Actually it was more like portions of the half. Normally on a Sunday the routine calls for a late morning snooze but I wanted to get up and cheer for two different friends of mine who were participating. I was going to do up a sign for them but surprise surprise, I was too lazy. I need to get a cowbell for these occasions!
It was a great day, if a bit chilly to start. I stationed myself a bit past the 10k mark just before the downhill Aylmer/Rosedale Valley Road chunk, to catch the 1:40+ group. Most people looked pretty strong at that point. There was one guy dressed up in a Captain America suit.
After the ~2:15 crowd passed, I then ambled over to the finishing stretch at Queen's Park. People were a lot more stressed there. Some people would say thanks when you encouraged them; others would merely grimace and glare at you. My one friend I surprised a bit unfortunately, I think she was trying to concentrate on maintaining form over the last kilometer and I distracted her when I yelled out her name.
It compels me to set a personal running resolution for next year. This fall I was thinking about a 10k or a half but I have been lackadaisical in the training. I think the right goal is to go for my
favorite race, the Around the Bay 30k. And then depending on results and ambition I might go to Ottawa, likely for a half. I just have to get a consistent training regimen in place. And pop the 10k mark properly. Wish me luck!
the banana split
A banana board push race October 5, 2008. The rules were simple -- you had to race on a banana board. No street decks or longboards. We did fudge the conditions a bit and permitted participants to swap in modern bearings and wheels.
Sweet!
Sweet!
Cody Jarrett > the Joker
I saw the seminal gangster film, White Heat, starring James Cagney. I couldn't help but compare it to Batman: the Dark Knight. Both flicks feature homicidal crime-lords who ruthlessly slay their own gang members as casually as they do innocent bystanders, and who revel in their manic impulse to destroy.
Structural similarities abound: Unrelenting violence. A prison break out. A hero who must assume a false identity in the name of good. The use of technology to fight crime.
Yet Cagney's performance as Cody Jarrett is thrilling and disturbing, where Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is to me, fairy inscrutable. And to be honest although the action sequences in Batman were spectacular (particularly in IMAX), I was significantly more engaged and stimulated by the plot in White Heat. The dialogue was crisp and memorable - I'll certainly be quoting Cagney, whereas I can't recall a single line from Nolan's opus.
I have to say that I think White Heat made for a better film than Batman.
What is it about crime movies that make them so intriguing? What does their popularity reveal about our inner nature? Do we secretly yearn for a world where the strictures we live by may be broken with impunity?
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| Cody Jarrett: the original Joker? |
Yet Cagney's performance as Cody Jarrett is thrilling and disturbing, where Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is to me, fairy inscrutable. And to be honest although the action sequences in Batman were spectacular (particularly in IMAX), I was significantly more engaged and stimulated by the plot in White Heat. The dialogue was crisp and memorable - I'll certainly be quoting Cagney, whereas I can't recall a single line from Nolan's opus.
I have to say that I think White Heat made for a better film than Batman.
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| White Heat movie poster |
The Conversation - a film for our times
Last night I watched Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation again for about the third or fourth time. I love the film's stunning, open-ended conclusion and its foreboding atmosphere of secretive paranoia.
Replete with an understated but stellar cast -- Gene Hackman, John Cazale (was there a movie he was in that wasn't an Oscar contender?), Harrison Ford, Terri Garr, Robert Duvall! -- The Conversation was made during the height of Coppola's emergence as a major director, in between The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.
Several aspects of The Conversation resonate keenly with me in the current context. Although the analog equipment of Harry Caul (Gene Hackman)'s trade as a wire-tapping expert seems primitive and quaint by today's standards, their application by Caul presages the modern dalliance with surveillance technologies and the panopticon state. Caul's techniques were state of the art in the Watergate era - to what level have they advanced 35 years later? And to what degree do they infiltrate our lives?
In the information age, bits are easy to track, easy to process via computation. What would have been a gargantuan task of data collection, collation and analysis can be automated and accelerated. Google, that colossus of information retrieval, actively amasses a plethora of profile data so it can target relevant advertising at you. It does this as a public corporation. It really does not take much imagination to blithely wonder whether other players with different motives and different analysis endpoints are doing something ... different ... with the rainbow of data extant about you on the net.
Harry Caul is a hacker. He builds all of his own equipment. He is lonely and socially isolated from his peers and community. And yet the film cleverly draws us into his world, lets us see and hear what he does. Lets us watch him as if he were the surveillance target, allowing us to witness his humanity. Lets us experience the same revelation of horror that he does. His descent into madness is gradual at first but progresses exponentially, leaving us with a shattered view of personal privacy at the film's denouement (Though denouement is technically not the right word here, in the sense that a resolution of his essential dilemma fails to occur after the climax).
The elements of audio repetition in the film are used extremely effectively by the famous sound designer, Walter Murch. Fragments of the eponymous conversation are replayed again and again as Caul struggles to decipher and interpret the meaning behind the dialogue of the couple he has been tracking. Meanwhile the wandering piano score by David Shire is expertly woven into the texture of the scenes.
While The Conversation might prove to be too slow-paced for someone adapted to the au courant frenetic editing style, it continues to strike a relevant note and is definitely one of my favorite films. The unsatisfying nature of the ending is what makes this film Art.
ps. and nevermind Enemy of the State! That was like watching a feeble counterfeit.
Replete with an understated but stellar cast -- Gene Hackman, John Cazale (was there a movie he was in that wasn't an Oscar contender?), Harrison Ford, Terri Garr, Robert Duvall! -- The Conversation was made during the height of Coppola's emergence as a major director, in between The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II.
Several aspects of The Conversation resonate keenly with me in the current context. Although the analog equipment of Harry Caul (Gene Hackman)'s trade as a wire-tapping expert seems primitive and quaint by today's standards, their application by Caul presages the modern dalliance with surveillance technologies and the panopticon state. Caul's techniques were state of the art in the Watergate era - to what level have they advanced 35 years later? And to what degree do they infiltrate our lives?
In the information age, bits are easy to track, easy to process via computation. What would have been a gargantuan task of data collection, collation and analysis can be automated and accelerated. Google, that colossus of information retrieval, actively amasses a plethora of profile data so it can target relevant advertising at you. It does this as a public corporation. It really does not take much imagination to blithely wonder whether other players with different motives and different analysis endpoints are doing something ... different ... with the rainbow of data extant about you on the net.
Harry Caul is a hacker. He builds all of his own equipment. He is lonely and socially isolated from his peers and community. And yet the film cleverly draws us into his world, lets us see and hear what he does. Lets us watch him as if he were the surveillance target, allowing us to witness his humanity. Lets us experience the same revelation of horror that he does. His descent into madness is gradual at first but progresses exponentially, leaving us with a shattered view of personal privacy at the film's denouement (Though denouement is technically not the right word here, in the sense that a resolution of his essential dilemma fails to occur after the climax).
The elements of audio repetition in the film are used extremely effectively by the famous sound designer, Walter Murch. Fragments of the eponymous conversation are replayed again and again as Caul struggles to decipher and interpret the meaning behind the dialogue of the couple he has been tracking. Meanwhile the wandering piano score by David Shire is expertly woven into the texture of the scenes.
While The Conversation might prove to be too slow-paced for someone adapted to the au courant frenetic editing style, it continues to strike a relevant note and is definitely one of my favorite films. The unsatisfying nature of the ending is what makes this film Art.
ps. and nevermind Enemy of the State! That was like watching a feeble counterfeit.
google chrome the next new browser?!
What the heck, I often find firefox to be poky anyway. I bet the dev teams at mozilla and IE aren't too pleased to learn about the release of google chrome. Despite significant advances for FF in market share it looks like the mighty GOOG decided it had to own and control a browser... Now I can complain about having my favorite web sites munged by yet another browser. Hooray!
Highlights from the comic (drawn by Scott McCloud! The Tufte of comics!):
Highlights from the comic (drawn by Scott McCloud! The Tufte of comics!):
- fully open source
- separate processes for each tab (no more entire browser crashes from crufty javascript on one of your 18 open tabs!)
- new v8 javascript virtual machine - with hidden class transitions, dynamic code generation, and my personal favorite, precise, incremental garbage collection
- goofy 'tabs on top' user interface
- creepy omnibox
- new tab page = home page based on your most used/trafficked sites
- 'incognito' porn surfing mode
- some other random security stuff that bores me, but which will be another strike against malware etc. Sandboxing - i'll believe it when i see it.
- Windows only right now, of course (sigh). C'mon, OS X is where it's at! What about platform independence!?!
shoot, i bought the wrong bolts.
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| Check out the hangar to board width ratio on my waterski longboard... |
Went to Canadian Tire today. As usual it was a classic demonstration of the paradox of choice. I have been reading (on wikipedia) about polyurethane varnishes. I want to clear coat my Mermaid waterski/longboard to protect the retro graphic pattern from all the grotty dirt and crud that lies on the streets of Toronto. Of course when I arrived it was a smorgasbord of gloss, semi-gloss, satin, matte, etc. wood finishes, none of which I really know anything about.
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| (Obviously different wheels/trucks in this pic) Photo: S. Nuttall |
I'm not sure if a polyurethane varnish is the way to go anyway, due to the flex of the board. I'm afraid the coat will delaminate. Paralyzed by the array of multiple finishes I went to get some bolts instead.
Machine screws, rather. A topic regarding which I know roughly the same as I do varnishes. When I clear coat the Mermaid I will be removing the trucks etc., and then switching out the bolts when I remount everything, with some washers to spread out the load because my current bolts are flat heads which are biting deep into the wood.
I got some 2 inch and 2.5 inch pan head Robertson screws (the ones with the squares in the head -- invented by a Canadian. The Phillips (the cross head ones) screws are around because GM started using them). Close, but no cigar! It turns out I bought #8-32 screws, instead of #10-32 screws. i.e. they are a little smaller in diameter. So the self-locking nuts I have are too large. Argh. I just want to get the Mermaid totally perfect forever!!
Ahh, ignorance. Where's the bliss?
*Olympia* re-imagined
Lacking a television I've fallen somewhat behind on the sporting extravaganza currently occupying the world's attention, namely the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing. Nevertheless I finally got around to downloading a copy of the opening ceremonies.
What a stupendous display of nationalist puffery! I'm a huge fan of Leni Riefenstahl, and the whole thing felt like a modernist Asian homage to her. Tell me you didn't think the fireworks/lightshow over the Bird's nest stadium wasn't incredibly reminiscent of the closing 'cathedral of light' sequence in Olympia? And you could just as easily have substituted any of the rally montages from Triumph of the Will for the tai-chi, the dancing, the drumming, etc.
All you needed was a little goose stepping and it would be straight from Berlin 36. I read that the ceremonies were planned and coordinated by Zhang Yimou, (ooh! Raise the Red Lantern!) a director who clearly must have studied Riefenstahl's work carefully before embarking on his own cinematographic planning for the event.
I also watched Usain Bolt's demolition of the competition in the 100 meter final. It's fascinating to compare how it was shown on NBC with Riefenstahl's coverage of Jesse Owens' amazing 100m heats and finals (in Olympia). Riefenstahl was truly a pioneer of film (err, Nazi propaganda notwithstanding). Her influence on sport photography is undeniable.
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Cathedral of Light sequence from Olympia
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All you needed was a little goose stepping and it would be straight from Berlin 36. I read that the ceremonies were planned and coordinated by Zhang Yimou, (ooh! Raise the Red Lantern!) a director who clearly must have studied Riefenstahl's work carefully before embarking on his own cinematographic planning for the event.
I also watched Usain Bolt's demolition of the competition in the 100 meter final. It's fascinating to compare how it was shown on NBC with Riefenstahl's coverage of Jesse Owens' amazing 100m heats and finals (in Olympia). Riefenstahl was truly a pioneer of film (err, Nazi propaganda notwithstanding). Her influence on sport photography is undeniable.
awesome vintage cellphone commercial
The Also sprach Zarathustra in the background is classic. oooh i want one!!
Ohio declares selling crack is a job; no benefits!
Apparently in Ohio crack dealing is considered 'sustained remunerative employment' and consequently is sufficient cause to terminate total disability compensation.
Those stingy Ohioans!
Those stingy Ohioans!
William Lyon Mackenzie's Comedy of Errors
A decent summary of William Lyon Mackenzie's 1837 rebellion. I pass by the post office at Yonge and Eglinton all the time and I love to try and visualize what the scene would have looked like 170 years ago.
William Lyon Mackenzie is one of the few truly legendary characters who stand out in the usually lifeless annals of Canadian history. While he was not the only reformer who railed against the disproportionate privileges of the Family Compact, he was certainly the most colourful. Mackenzie was critical of the structure and operation of government, in which the Family Compact's control of political offices excluded newer American immigrants, and the Anglican Church enjoyed power and influence. Known for his fiery temper and borderline libelous criticisms of the government, Mackenzie eventually became convinced that armed rebellion was the only route towards the wholesale constitutional change he believed necessary. This week marks the 170th anniversary of the 1837 Rebellion he led. The countless differing versions of that event, each filled with half-truths and deliberate falsehoods, created the gaps that let imagination turn history into myth.
On December 4, Mackenzie and his supporters gathered at Montgomery’s Tavern, located roughly where the Post Office stands today north of Eglinton on Yonge. It’s hard not to imagine that rebels, who spent the next couple days at the Tavern with little food or comfort, downed more than a few libations. With the regular army dispatched to deal with Louis-Joseph Papineau’s rebellion in Lower Canada, Mackenzie fully expected to seize the capital in a single night and without shedding blood. Yet, within the first day, the rebels’ lack of military training or discipline resulted in two deaths. First, a government supporter was shot when he refused to yield to the authority of the rebels; then, a rebel guard was killed by an escaping prisoner. Mackenzie gave chase on horse-back, waving his pistol in the air, but the prisoner eluded him and went directly to Government House. There, Sir Francis Bond Head, the slumbering Lieutenant-Governor, was roused from bed. Having foolishly ignored earlier reports of an uprising, Head raised the alarm and called for volunteer militiamen to defend the city.
With the rebel ranks swelling to 500 on December 5, Mackenzie decided that the time was ripe to advance on the city. Perhaps imagining himself like Henry V at Agincourt, he rallied his supporters with a bombastic and passionate speech, as he recalled in his reminisces:
The rebels advanced down Yonge Street—then still a muddy path through the woods—to the scattering of houses at Yorkville. Government troops, concealing themselves in the trees just above Maitland Street, then opened fire. When the rebels dropped to the ground to return fire, the rest panicked:
Equally panicked, the government troops stampeded just as fast back to the city. Mackenzie later bitterly questioned the dedication of his men: "Had they possessed my feelings in favour of freedom, they would have stood by us even if armed but with pitch forks and broom handles."
Back at the Tavern the following day, Mackenzie wasted the advantage he had over the ill-prepared city by dithering. While reinforcements poured into Toronto, Mackenzie demonstrated increasingly erratic behaviour, taking revenge on individual Tories and burning their property. Although incapable of deciding the next course of action, Mackenzie was unwilling to delegate power or relinquish command. The rebel supporter with the most military experience, Colonel Anthony Van Egmond, finally arrived to take command of the remaining rebels on December 7. When he called the situation "stark madness," Mackenzie brandished his pistol and demanded Van Egmond prepare for the imminent attack of government troops. The ensuing fire-fight lasted all of twenty minutes before Mackenzie and his supporters fled.
Undoubtedly, Mackenzie was sincere in his political convictions, and his grievances against the Family Compact were legitimate. But he acted irresponsibly and while he escaped to the United States others paid the price. Two of Mackenzie’s most loyal supporters, Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were convicted of treason and, despite numerous petitions for clemency, were hanged on April 12, 1838.
Contrary to the popular assumption, Mackenzie’s rebellion did not lead directly to responsible government. More important in that political evolution were social and economic conditions, and the efforts of moderate reformers working within the political system. No amount of reform ever satisfied him and the last years of his life were spent, in the Bond Street house that has become a museum, antagonizing friend and foe alike over minor points of contention. Forever proud of the bounty placed on his head in the wake of the rebellion, Mackenzie always hung a copy of the wanted poster prominently in his home.
Illustrations by C.W. Jefferys from Canada’s Past In Pictures (Ryerson Press, 1934)
Sent to you by nate via Google Reader:
William Lyon Mackenzie's Comedy of Errors
via Torontoist by Kevin Plummer on 12/7/07
William Lyon Mackenzie is one of the few truly legendary characters who stand out in the usually lifeless annals of Canadian history. While he was not the only reformer who railed against the disproportionate privileges of the Family Compact, he was certainly the most colourful. Mackenzie was critical of the structure and operation of government, in which the Family Compact's control of political offices excluded newer American immigrants, and the Anglican Church enjoyed power and influence. Known for his fiery temper and borderline libelous criticisms of the government, Mackenzie eventually became convinced that armed rebellion was the only route towards the wholesale constitutional change he believed necessary. This week marks the 170th anniversary of the 1837 Rebellion he led. The countless differing versions of that event, each filled with half-truths and deliberate falsehoods, created the gaps that let imagination turn history into myth.
On December 4, Mackenzie and his supporters gathered at Montgomery’s Tavern, located roughly where the Post Office stands today north of Eglinton on Yonge. It’s hard not to imagine that rebels, who spent the next couple days at the Tavern with little food or comfort, downed more than a few libations. With the regular army dispatched to deal with Louis-Joseph Papineau’s rebellion in Lower Canada, Mackenzie fully expected to seize the capital in a single night and without shedding blood. Yet, within the first day, the rebels’ lack of military training or discipline resulted in two deaths. First, a government supporter was shot when he refused to yield to the authority of the rebels; then, a rebel guard was killed by an escaping prisoner. Mackenzie gave chase on horse-back, waving his pistol in the air, but the prisoner eluded him and went directly to Government House. There, Sir Francis Bond Head, the slumbering Lieutenant-Governor, was roused from bed. Having foolishly ignored earlier reports of an uprising, Head raised the alarm and called for volunteer militiamen to defend the city. With the rebel ranks swelling to 500 on December 5, Mackenzie decided that the time was ripe to advance on the city. Perhaps imagining himself like Henry V at Agincourt, he rallied his supporters with a bombastic and passionate speech, as he recalled in his reminisces:
I told them that I was certain there could be no difficulty in taking Toronto; that both in town and country the people had stood aloof from Sir Francis; that not 150 men and boys could be got to defend him; that he was alarmed, and had got his family on board a steamer, that 600 reformers were ready waiting to join us in the city, and that all we had to do was to be firm, and with the city would at once go down every vestige of foreign government in Upper Canada.
The rebels advanced down Yonge Street—then still a muddy path through the woods—to the scattering of houses at Yorkville. Government troops, concealing themselves in the trees just above Maitland Street, then opened fire. When the rebels dropped to the ground to return fire, the rest panicked:
When they saw the riflemen in front falling down, and heard the firing, they imagined that those who fell were killed and wounded by the enemy’s fire; and took to their heels with a speed and steadiness of purpose that would have baffled pursuit on foot.
Equally panicked, the government troops stampeded just as fast back to the city. Mackenzie later bitterly questioned the dedication of his men: "Had they possessed my feelings in favour of freedom, they would have stood by us even if armed but with pitch forks and broom handles."Back at the Tavern the following day, Mackenzie wasted the advantage he had over the ill-prepared city by dithering. While reinforcements poured into Toronto, Mackenzie demonstrated increasingly erratic behaviour, taking revenge on individual Tories and burning their property. Although incapable of deciding the next course of action, Mackenzie was unwilling to delegate power or relinquish command. The rebel supporter with the most military experience, Colonel Anthony Van Egmond, finally arrived to take command of the remaining rebels on December 7. When he called the situation "stark madness," Mackenzie brandished his pistol and demanded Van Egmond prepare for the imminent attack of government troops. The ensuing fire-fight lasted all of twenty minutes before Mackenzie and his supporters fled.
Undoubtedly, Mackenzie was sincere in his political convictions, and his grievances against the Family Compact were legitimate. But he acted irresponsibly and while he escaped to the United States others paid the price. Two of Mackenzie’s most loyal supporters, Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews were convicted of treason and, despite numerous petitions for clemency, were hanged on April 12, 1838.
Contrary to the popular assumption, Mackenzie’s rebellion did not lead directly to responsible government. More important in that political evolution were social and economic conditions, and the efforts of moderate reformers working within the political system. No amount of reform ever satisfied him and the last years of his life were spent, in the Bond Street house that has become a museum, antagonizing friend and foe alike over minor points of contention. Forever proud of the bounty placed on his head in the wake of the rebellion, Mackenzie always hung a copy of the wanted poster prominently in his home.
Illustrations by C.W. Jefferys from Canada’s Past In Pictures (Ryerson Press, 1934)
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minority report-style computer interaction using a wii
This is cool on multiple levels. It's not even a technically hard hack; what's genius about it is that the guy had the originality to think of it.
Here's another one where he does interactive VR style head tracking. Which doesn't sound that impressive necessarily but just watch the video -- somebody's going to commercialize this for sure. So clever!
Here's another one where he does interactive VR style head tracking. Which doesn't sound that impressive necessarily but just watch the video -- somebody's going to commercialize this for sure. So clever!
The Queen's Christmas Message (1957)
See also
The Queen’s Christmas Broadcast - How the Queen’s English has Changed Over Time
OLF 2.0!
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