I like how this contemplative video inventively uses aerial views of a skater’s nighttime peregrinations through a deserted city...
FIREFLY from samadhi production on Vimeo.
It doesn’t really go anywhere but I think the technique is interesting.
Sympathy and thoughts for the runners in today’s Boston Marathon...
Like everyone, I’m shocked by the news about the explosions at the Boston Marathon.
[LINK]
Even setting aside my disgust at the terrorism, as a runner I feel a deep anger towards anyone who would disrupt the race like that. For many people Boston is the pinnacle of their running careers; for others (like me) it is an achievement that will forever be out of reach despite our best efforts—but it’s something to aspire towards.
What makes it particularly poignant for me is the race time when the explosions occurred (a little over four hours)—I would probably finish around then!
My thoughts are with the injured and killed. Godspeed.
[LINK]
Even setting aside my disgust at the terrorism, as a runner I feel a deep anger towards anyone who would disrupt the race like that. For many people Boston is the pinnacle of their running careers; for others (like me) it is an achievement that will forever be out of reach despite our best efforts—but it’s something to aspire towards.
What makes it particularly poignant for me is the race time when the explosions occurred (a little over four hours)—I would probably finish around then!
My thoughts are with the injured and killed. Godspeed.
Classic TV Commercials Starring William Shatner
+-+YouTube.jpg) |
| Shatner shilling for Miss USA |
His resurgence in popularity since the late 90s (as embodied by the Priceline Negotiator character) is rooted in a fearless willingness to poke ironic fun at his own public image.
Nevertheless, it’s the sincere early commercials that deliver the most entertainment for me. For your viewing pleasure I herewith present this collection of Willam Shatner’s greatest appearances as a company pitchman...
[Click to watch. Some videos may open in a separate window on YouTube.]
Loblaws—Late 70s?:
See also: Another Loblaws Shatner commercial.
Promise Margarine (1974):
See also: Another Promise Margarine Shatner commercial (1975).
Commodore VIC-20:
See also: Another Commodore VIC-20 Shatner commercial
Inevitably, corporations attempted to capitalize upon Shatner’s most famous role as Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek...
Western Airlines (1985):
See also: this footage.
National Power/PowerGen:
DirecTV:
See also:
- MCI Commercial with Leonard Nimoy, TOS Cast and Jonathan Frakes
- Oldsmobile commercial -- William Shatner with his daughter
Shatner’s campy, knowing portrayal as the Priceline Negotiator from around 1997 onwards signalled a new era in his career as a commercial spokesperson. Audiences loved that he seemed in on the joke, able to maintain a straight face while delivering the most absurd lines of dialogue...
Priceline Negotiator Death:
The Priceline Negotiator Lives!:
See also:
- Priceline Shocker: The Negotiator's Secret Daughter Revealed!
- Priceline - Shatner Fired (Shatner and Nimoy)
- Priceline - Two Spokesmen (Shatner and Nimoy)
- Priceline - Shatner and Nimoy 3
- Priceline - William Shatner Busts A Move
Miss USA Pageant (2001) (a result of his role as Stan Fields in Miss Congeniality?):
All Bran Challenge:
See also: All Bran Challenge Day 1 Shatner commercial
World of Warcraft:
Dial Direct Insurance (Piggy):
See Also: Dial Direct Tennis with William Shatner
Shatner also pitched for various legal firms, perhaps a derivative benefit from his role as Denny Crane on The Practice and Boston Legal:
See also:
Miscellaneous Adverts
Rescue 911 (1989):
State Farm: Eat, Fry, Love (Shatner & Turkey Frying):
(In my opinion this overlong piece sadly fails to capture the Shatner magic. It’s bad, but not quite bad enough to be funny...)
Desperate Crossing: “I’m Jewish; You’re Probably Not”
See also:
- 1985 CARES California National Horse Show
- Shatner’s World
- Shatner speaks about Tinnitus [a downer to watch, but for a good cause]
- National Friend Unfollow Day Announcement (joke ad)
- William Shatner’s Get a Life official trailer
- NASA Spinoff PSA
- William Shatner Asks YOU to Save Kipper & Protect the Bering Sea (Greenpeace)
Additional Reading
This excellent NY Times profile of Shatner provides some illuminating context to his career and to these advertisements. I recommend reading it!
Hat tip
A few weeks ago, +Joey DeVilla wrote a post about the highly amusing Star Trek video game promo with William Shatner vs. the Gorn. It was his article that prompted me to assemble this compilation.Incidentally, Mr. deVilla is well worth following online. I’m not even sure how to describe him—Local tech personality? Bon-vivant? Pop culture critic? Gentleman adventurer? Blogger? the Accordion Guy? At any rate he is determined to live and document an interesting life.
Bonus Links
Shatner dancing on $25,000 Pyramid:
Common / People - a William Shatner, Kirk & Spock slashup:
See also:
- A rather manic (possibly sped up?) track from the 1977 William Shatner recording, Captain Of The Starship (William Shatner Live!)
- Shatner performs It was a very good year.
- Bohemian Rhapsody. No, really.
Did I miss any great commercials of Mr. Shatner’s? Post ’em up & discuss your favourites in the comments!
e.e. cummings reads "anyone lived in a pretty how town" (Harvard, 1953)
This was one of my favourite poems back when I was a student.
[If this link doesn’t work, try this YouTube version]
Some brief discussion and the poem’s text here.
[If this link doesn’t work, try this YouTube version]
Some brief discussion and the poem’s text here.
Timelapse Overdose
My feelings about timelapse videos wax and wane according to my mood. Sometimes I dislike them, other times I think they are amazing. Certainly a considerable amount of skill and patience is required to capture them.
Herewith a sampling of recent favourites, for when I’m positively inclined...
Namibian Nights from Squiver on Vimeo.
Open Horizon from Russell Houghten on Vimeo.
TimeLAX 01 from iVideoMaking on Vimeo.
Time-Lapse | Earth from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo.
And of course who could leave out Toronto:
City Rising (Toronto Timelapse) from Tom Ryaboi on Vimeo.
See Also
Wonderful time-lapse tilt-shift changing depth of field short film
Herewith a sampling of recent favourites, for when I’m positively inclined...
Namibian Nights from Squiver on Vimeo.
Open Horizon from Russell Houghten on Vimeo.
TimeLAX 01 from iVideoMaking on Vimeo.
Time-Lapse | Earth from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo.
And of course who could leave out Toronto:
City Rising (Toronto Timelapse) from Tom Ryaboi on Vimeo.
See Also
Wonderful time-lapse tilt-shift changing depth of field short film
That Night in Toronto... (A Tragically Hip Tale)
For a brief, crystalline moment about eight years ago, I found myself faced with a snarling Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip:
It was November 26, 2004. Friday night. Twenty thousand boisterous fans inside the sold-out Air Canada Centre were rocking out behind me, while I stood in the gap in front of the stage, jostled by security, a pack of professional media photographers, and a film crew.
Lucky Contest Winner
Three days prior, I’d received an e-mail from The Toronto Star, informing me I’d somehow won their Tragically Hip Photo Pass Concert contest—the prize for which consisted of ‘two tickets to see the Hip at the ACC, their complete discography, and one photo pass for one person to photograph the band for the first three songs from the "pit."’
Sign me up!
At the time the Hip were perhaps the hottest live act in Canada. Their In Between Evolution tour was selling out venues across North America, and the band had gained a hard-earned reputation for raucous concert performances. So it was an easy choice to go. Without much difficulty I corralled a friend of mine to accompany me (yay Kat!), and Friday night eventually rolled around...
That Night in Toronto
We arrived at the packed ACC and settled into our assigned seats. The opening band was the Joel Plaskett Emergency, but to be honest I didn’t pay much attention because I was too excited. Who wouldn’t be?
After JPE finished their set, a short intermission followed whereupon I was escorted by a gentleman from Universal Music up to the narrow moat in front. Unfortunately I had to leave Kat behind in our seats, as the pass only allowed one person to go. Once up front, I flashed my badge (pictured) to a burly security guard, who waved me gruffly into the off-limits area.
My Little Sony
The thing is, I’m not a photographer. I didn’t own a film camera. Back then I only had those crappy 24-shot disposables (remember those?!), so I decided instead to bring my digital camera. I’d acquired it from my Silicon Valley employer as a reward for doing online course-work:
Even though it’s a bit ridiculous looking today (check out the viewscreen on the back!), it was a decent model then. I had outfitted it with a whopping 64mb MemoryStick, allowing me to take about 60 shots total.
Naturally, I wasn’t the only person snapping away. A contingent of newspaper and media pros was also present:
Finally, there was a film crew, shooting the band as they performed. Footage from that evening would be released in 2005 as the Hip’s first ever live concert DVD, That Night in Toronto
-- the name comes from a line in the Hip song, Bobcaygeon.
I’m a confident guy in most respects, but when you’re standing there and every cameraman has a bigger lens than you... it’s a joke that writes itself.
As a matter of fact, you can occasionally snatch a glimpse or two of me from the recorded footage:
I managed to take three photos that looked all right, in my opinion. When you don’t know anything about photography other than pressing down the shutter button, you have to luck out somewhat. For the initial image in this post, Mr. Downie had noticed me with my dinky consumer apparatus and—judging correctly that I was not a professional like the others in the moat—deliberately struck and held a pose mid-lyric so I could take the shot. Class!
The other two:
For the first couple of songs I stood off to the side, stage right, rooted to where I’d placed myself, but for the third song I felt emboldened and wandered over towards the middle.
The rest of the photos were disappointingly what you’d expect of a non-photographer: blurry, out of focus, ill-composed snaps taken not quite at the right moments. It turns out concert photography requires skill. View: the whole gallery.
If you’re a geek, you can examine the EXIF data and, based on the time-stamps, you can play the DVD and figure out approximately when during the concert each photo occurred.
Here’s a photo of me taking a photo (is that too meta?):
All too soon, the three songs were over, and I was ushered back to my seat to re-join my friend. The concert, not counting the opening act, wound up lasting two rollicking hours, covering the major hits. Like so many other Tragically Hip performances, it was a blast for those in attendance.
Thanks in retrospect to Nicolas Casimir at The Toronto Star, and to Andrew Patton & David Lindores of Universal Music, for organizing the contest! It was great.
Context for this post & bonus links
I was cleaning up my hard drive when I stumbled across these photos and I thought, why not share them? Kinda belated, but...
[LINK: The Tragically Hip performing ‘Bobcaygeon’ during That Night in Toronto]
 |
| Mr. Downie glares at me mid-song |
It was November 26, 2004. Friday night. Twenty thousand boisterous fans inside the sold-out Air Canada Centre were rocking out behind me, while I stood in the gap in front of the stage, jostled by security, a pack of professional media photographers, and a film crew.
Lucky Contest Winner
 |
| The Tour Poster |
Sign me up!
At the time the Hip were perhaps the hottest live act in Canada. Their In Between Evolution tour was selling out venues across North America, and the band had gained a hard-earned reputation for raucous concert performances. So it was an easy choice to go. Without much difficulty I corralled a friend of mine to accompany me (yay Kat!), and Friday night eventually rolled around...
 |
| The Air Canada Centre was jammed. |
That Night in Toronto
We arrived at the packed ACC and settled into our assigned seats. The opening band was the Joel Plaskett Emergency, but to be honest I didn’t pay much attention because I was too excited. Who wouldn’t be?
After JPE finished their set, a short intermission followed whereupon I was escorted by a gentleman from Universal Music up to the narrow moat in front. Unfortunately I had to leave Kat behind in our seats, as the pass only allowed one person to go. Once up front, I flashed my badge (pictured) to a burly security guard, who waved me gruffly into the off-limits area.
 |
| My front stage area pass (left) and my ticket |
My Little Sony
The thing is, I’m not a photographer. I didn’t own a film camera. Back then I only had those crappy 24-shot disposables (remember those?!), so I decided instead to bring my digital camera. I’d acquired it from my Silicon Valley employer as a reward for doing online course-work:
 |
| My Sony Cybershot S75. Mouseover to see reverse. |
Even though it’s a bit ridiculous looking today (check out the viewscreen on the back!), it was a decent model then. I had outfitted it with a whopping 64mb MemoryStick, allowing me to take about 60 shots total.
Naturally, I wasn’t the only person snapping away. A contingent of newspaper and media pros was also present:
 |
| The ‘competition’ with real cameras and lenses |
-- the name comes from a line in the Hip song, Bobcaygeon.I’m a confident guy in most respects, but when you’re standing there and every cameraman has a bigger lens than you... it’s a joke that writes itself.
As a matter of fact, you can occasionally snatch a glimpse or two of me from the recorded footage:
 |
| Still from That Night in Toronto, about 6:30 in. |
I managed to take three photos that looked all right, in my opinion. When you don’t know anything about photography other than pressing down the shutter button, you have to luck out somewhat. For the initial image in this post, Mr. Downie had noticed me with my dinky consumer apparatus and—judging correctly that I was not a professional like the others in the moat—deliberately struck and held a pose mid-lyric so I could take the shot. Class!
The other two:
 |
| Downie belting out Vaccination Scar |
For the first couple of songs I stood off to the side, stage right, rooted to where I’d placed myself, but for the third song I felt emboldened and wandered over towards the middle.
 |
| Fully, completely in the moment |
The rest of the photos were disappointingly what you’d expect of a non-photographer: blurry, out of focus, ill-composed snaps taken not quite at the right moments. It turns out concert photography requires skill. View: the whole gallery.
If you’re a geek, you can examine the EXIF data and, based on the time-stamps, you can play the DVD and figure out approximately when during the concert each photo occurred.
Here’s a photo of me taking a photo (is that too meta?):
 |
| Mouseover to see me take the shot... |
All too soon, the three songs were over, and I was ushered back to my seat to re-join my friend. The concert, not counting the opening act, wound up lasting two rollicking hours, covering the major hits. Like so many other Tragically Hip performances, it was a blast for those in attendance.
 |
| The set list that evening. Photo by The Tragically Hip |
Thanks in retrospect to Nicolas Casimir at The Toronto Star, and to Andrew Patton & David Lindores of Universal Music, for organizing the contest! It was great.
Context for this post & bonus links
I was cleaning up my hard drive when I stumbled across these photos and I thought, why not share them? Kinda belated, but...
[LINK: The Tragically Hip performing ‘Bobcaygeon’ during That Night in Toronto]
- Here’s the band’s official photo set from that evening.
Google Reader is getting canned?!
Google just announced that they are shelving Google Reader this summer. As a nerd, I am shocked. WTF Google?!
I accept that RSS has never been sexy. ‘What's this little orange icon mean?' Explaining it to a non-technical person almost always wound up confusing them more.
But it doesn’t mean they had to kill the service. Functionally speaking, it was fine as it was. They didn’t have to keep developing it. Stick a co-op student on it or something -- it’s not like they don’t have the resources.
I’m appalled. What a gross display of corporate indifference in the name of 'focus'. Instead of showing good stewardship for the technology and letting it sunset naturally, Google is screwing us over -- & doesn’t care. So much for trust.
Google Reader has been an essential, major interface to the web for me since 2005, and was a key factor in my readily adopting other Google services. It’s about the ecosystem, guys.
[LINK: Hitler finds out Google Reader is shutting down]
This is a teaching moment about the cloud -- don’t rely too much on any given service because it can just vanish if the provider feels like it. This act shakes my confidence in the long-term viability of every other Google service I use. Why should I use any of these tools if they’re subject to evaporating based on Google’s whims? What’s next on the arbitrary chopping block -- Gmail?
Google may profess not be evil, but on this day it has surely crossed the line into suckitude.
Other posts I’ve written on Google
Further (external) reading
 |
| This dialog box needs a Cancel option. |
I accept that RSS has never been sexy. ‘What's this little orange icon mean?' Explaining it to a non-technical person almost always wound up confusing them more.
But it doesn’t mean they had to kill the service. Functionally speaking, it was fine as it was. They didn’t have to keep developing it. Stick a co-op student on it or something -- it’s not like they don’t have the resources.
I’m appalled. What a gross display of corporate indifference in the name of 'focus'. Instead of showing good stewardship for the technology and letting it sunset naturally, Google is screwing us over -- & doesn’t care. So much for trust.
Google Reader has been an essential, major interface to the web for me since 2005, and was a key factor in my readily adopting other Google services. It’s about the ecosystem, guys.
[LINK: Hitler finds out Google Reader is shutting down]
This is a teaching moment about the cloud -- don’t rely too much on any given service because it can just vanish if the provider feels like it. This act shakes my confidence in the long-term viability of every other Google service I use. Why should I use any of these tools if they’re subject to evaporating based on Google’s whims? What’s next on the arbitrary chopping block -- Gmail?
Google may profess not be evil, but on this day it has surely crossed the line into suckitude.
Other posts I’ve written on Google
- Why I Switched My Search Engine to DuckDuckGo...
- Google Drive Launch Video -- Reimagined
- How to Get Rid of “What’s Hot” Items From Your Google+ Stream
Further (external) reading
- Google’s Lost Social Network
- Google Reader lived on borrowed time: creator Chris Wetherell reflects
- Why Is Google Shutting Down Google Reader -- a former product manager answers
- Dave Winer (creator of RSS): Goodbye Google Reader
- Embrace, extend, extinguish: How Google crushed and abandoned the RSS industry
- The Evolution Of Google Reader Started With A Crash (a history of Google Reader by the founding product manager)
Industrial food processing video clip - from Samsara
While I’m not necessarily a fan of consuming the output of mass industrialized food production -- with certain contextual exceptions -- I nevertheless am always fascinated by the logistics and engineering processes that go into the design of these large-scale systems.
This lovely excerpt from the film Samsara displays food factory production with hypnotic grace. While the content may be mildly disturbing, the soundtrack, slow panning, and time-lapse-ing 'cool' the visuals down, abstracting the mechanical violence and allowing you to observe the flow of material. The director also worked on Koyaanisqatsi, incidentally.
Mm. Who feels like a Big Mac?
Other Posts I’ve Written on Industrial Food
The Best Industrial Mushroom Processing Video You’ll Ever See
The ugly truth about orange juice
Why I love Waffle House - a personal reflection
Commercial honeybee colonies continue to die off a.k.a. that time I wrote to Buzz the Honeybee
Larabars - are they for real?!
This lovely excerpt from the film Samsara displays food factory production with hypnotic grace. While the content may be mildly disturbing, the soundtrack, slow panning, and time-lapse-ing 'cool' the visuals down, abstracting the mechanical violence and allowing you to observe the flow of material. The director also worked on Koyaanisqatsi, incidentally.
SAMSARA food sequence from Baraka & Samsara on Vimeo.
Mm. Who feels like a Big Mac?
Other Posts I’ve Written on Industrial Food
The Best Industrial Mushroom Processing Video You’ll Ever See
The ugly truth about orange juice
Why I love Waffle House - a personal reflection
Commercial honeybee colonies continue to die off a.k.a. that time I wrote to Buzz the Honeybee
Larabars - are they for real?!
Happy 179th, Toronto!
Happy birthday Toronto!
It’s amusing how after a few lofty legal phrases the act gets down to business, authorizing the Commissioners of the Peace to 'appoint such days and hours for exposing to sale Butcher's meat, butter, eggs, poultry, fish and vegetables.'
Read the full act here. As far as I can tell, the first two and a half pages of the Act consist of a single, massive, run-on legal sentence.
Incidentally, Toronto sure was a lot smaller back then...
 |
| AN ACT, To extend the limits of the Town of York; to erect the said Town into a City; and to Incorporate it under the name of the City of Toronto. |
It’s amusing how after a few lofty legal phrases the act gets down to business, authorizing the Commissioners of the Peace to 'appoint such days and hours for exposing to sale Butcher's meat, butter, eggs, poultry, fish and vegetables.'
Read the full act here. As far as I can tell, the first two and a half pages of the Act consist of a single, massive, run-on legal sentence.
Incidentally, Toronto sure was a lot smaller back then...
How I Beat The World’s Oldest Marathoner -- In His Racing Prime
The world’s oldest long-distance runner, Fauja Singh, aged 101, ran his final race in Hong Kong last week. He’s decided to retire from racing (but not running), after over a decade of international prominence.
Congratulations to Mr. Singh, an inspiration to all of us!
Yes, I defeated the Turbaned Tornado
It’s thoroughly ridiculous to make this observation, but I did overtake the celebrated ‘Turbaned Tornado’ once, 10 years ago. Here’s the story:
It was at the 2003 Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in Toronto. Listed under the name 'Fauga Singh', the then-youthful-92-year-old started in the 'Early Bird / Walker' section, which began the race about an hour and a bit before the main start.
So, because of the head start, it was actually kind of tight for me, in terms of passing Singh and his coterie -- it happened fairly close to the finish line, with just a few kilometers remaining down the stretch. He wasn’t as famous then, but I still recognized him. He was striding along at a decent pace. I vividly remember thinking, I’d better complete this race or I’ll never hear the end of it.
His sprightly time was 5:40 -- which, retrospectively, turned out to be his personal best over the course of 8 marathons -- while I limped in at a lousy 4:06 (I endured wretched calf cramps that day, sigh).
That’s part of the fun of racing; technically you’re competing in the exact same event and the identical course as everyone else, including the world-class runners and other outliers. It’s very... egalitarian.
Now that his competitive running career is over (we’ll see!), I can make the absurd boast that I beat Fauja Singh -- at his marathon racing peak. Hahaha!
For more about Singh, read this excellent, thorough ESPN profile of him (including the painful tale of how he was snubbed by the Guinness Book of World Records): The Runner.
Will Ed Whitlock one day shatter Singh’s records? That would be my wager. Heck, I couldn’t beat Ed Whitlock in a race even if I were in my prime [Seriously. My best unofficial times for half marathon distances were around 1:45; last year Whitlock did the Milton Half in 1:38!]...
See also
My first 10k in a long time
Didn’t Run Today
How I Qualified for Boston*
Around the Bay - almost, but not quite a disaster
 |
| Singh in training. Photo: Levon Biss for ESPN The Magazine. Click to view original. |
Congratulations to Mr. Singh, an inspiration to all of us!
Yes, I defeated the Turbaned Tornado
It’s thoroughly ridiculous to make this observation, but I did overtake the celebrated ‘Turbaned Tornado’ once, 10 years ago. Here’s the story:
It was at the 2003 Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon in Toronto. Listed under the name 'Fauga Singh', the then-youthful-92-year-old started in the 'Early Bird / Walker' section, which began the race about an hour and a bit before the main start.
So, because of the head start, it was actually kind of tight for me, in terms of passing Singh and his coterie -- it happened fairly close to the finish line, with just a few kilometers remaining down the stretch. He wasn’t as famous then, but I still recognized him. He was striding along at a decent pace. I vividly remember thinking, I’d better complete this race or I’ll never hear the end of it.
His sprightly time was 5:40 -- which, retrospectively, turned out to be his personal best over the course of 8 marathons -- while I limped in at a lousy 4:06 (I endured wretched calf cramps that day, sigh).
 |
| In 2004 Fauja Singh starred in this Adidas advertisement for the Nothing Is Impossible campaign |
That’s part of the fun of racing; technically you’re competing in the exact same event and the identical course as everyone else, including the world-class runners and other outliers. It’s very... egalitarian.
Now that his competitive running career is over (we’ll see!), I can make the absurd boast that I beat Fauja Singh -- at his marathon racing peak. Hahaha!
For more about Singh, read this excellent, thorough ESPN profile of him (including the painful tale of how he was snubbed by the Guinness Book of World Records): The Runner.
Will Ed Whitlock one day shatter Singh’s records? That would be my wager. Heck, I couldn’t beat Ed Whitlock in a race even if I were in my prime [Seriously. My best unofficial times for half marathon distances were around 1:45; last year Whitlock did the Milton Half in 1:38!]...
See also
My first 10k in a long time
Didn’t Run Today
How I Qualified for Boston*
Around the Bay - almost, but not quite a disaster
The Return of Longboard Haven Skate Shop
Earlier this month marked the happy, much-anticipated launch of Longboard Haven, a Toronto skate shop selling a focused selection of high-quality decks, gear, safety equipment, clothing, and art.
I dropped in on the two proprietors, Rob Sydia, and Mike McGown (a.k.a. ‘Smooth Chicken’) to discuss the new business and what they have planned for the future. Located on a gritty stretch of Queen Street East, their compact shop is open every day, ‘noon-ish to seven’ (five on weekends). When the spring season starts, official hours will be 11 am to 8pm.
The Origins of Longboard Haven: Pat Switzer
Longboard Haven is a name that has a history in Toronto longboarding circles.
The shop had its first incarnation seven years ago as a (literally) underground operation, run from the basement apartments of Patrick Switzer -- who has since become one of the world’s top downhill skateboarders. McGown was his room-mate and close friend; the Haven was named after a secret skate garage near Eglinton and Leslie they used to frequent, along with Sydia and a couple of others.
Switzer supplied and serviced the then-nascent Toronto longboarding community, featuring specialized gear that regular skate shops often wouldn’t carry, and which was otherwise difficult to obtain.
Switzer subsequently moved west to pursue his downhill racing career, and the business was shuttered. I reached out to Pat (based in Vancouver & not involved in the current version, except karmically) to ask what he thought about LBH’s fresh start as an actual bricks and mortar store. His comment:
Side note: Switzer is now producing the Greener Pastures sport adventure web series, which brings together many of the world’s best riders and has accumulated nearly a million views to date. Support his project via the indiegogo fundraising campaign!
Equipping Riders with the Right Gear
I asked McGown why he and Sydia would take up the challenge of starting up a for-real retail shop, when the industry is notorious for turnover, and undergoing a transition as online distributors compress margins. McGown’s explanation of the opportunity:
He informed me of the shop’s unofficial motto, which has a distinctly old-timey cadence:
The voluble and often bombastic Sydia has been skating for a long time [sorry, Rob!]. He’s... the skater dad. The adult who patiently calms down the cops. Who explains to parents what their kids are really doing. Who tells you to put on a helmet [which he’s now in a position to sell you, ahem].
He’s also been involved behind the scenes, as a mentor, influence and advisor to Switzer and others within the skate community via Gnar Extreme Sports Management. Sydia contends that the sport has grown too large overall to stay underground, and that it must evolve towards legitimacy. The shop is one facet of his participation in that maturation process.
I asked about their pricing approach -- something that can be a sensitive topic with skate shops, from both the customer and supplier directions. Sydia understands the tension, but was careful to emphasize their shop would prioritize selling quality and premium goods at fair (but not cut-rate) prices.
He elaborated again on the mindset they are bringing:
A Community Hub
The partners are working to develop strong connections in the industry -- including and especially local builders -- something that they hope will give them an edge.
What’s more, the pair intend the shop to be much more than just an outlet of goods. Their vision is to become an important nucleus of the Ontario skate community, and to get more people involved.
Sections of the store are consciously oriented towards connecting visitors to the rest of the local skate scene and its history. The downstairs lounge features a signature wall, and mini-exhibit pieces are scattered throughout. Sydia pointed out a surface that he hopes to populate with photos and ephemera from events as they happen:
(BTW rabid Pat Switzer fans: his old race leathers are on temporary display in the lower level, until the model leathers come in. If you want to see & touch a piece of longboarding history, check it out now.)
An Obvious Labour of Love
The venture is self-funded (Sydia is the principal owner, with veteran skater McGown as a secondary partner). It took the duo two months of intense labour to clean, renovate, paint, set up, decorate, and stock the establishment, housed inside a former art-gallery.
I commend the pair for their spirit and commitment. It’s easy to say, “oh, it would be great to run a skate shop”; it’s an entirely different thing to put your passion and savings on the line and do it.
I wish them every success.
Longboard Haven -- featuring the nicest skate shop washroom you’ll ever use -- is located at 183 Queen St. East, Toronto. Support your local shop!
[Full disclosure: Chicken is a friend of mine. And Sydia’s friends with everyone. Mostly.]
Past Skate Articles From Me
• Profile: Justin Readings, Downhill Skateboarder
• Is skateboarding illegal in Toronto?
• The Toronto Board Meeting: A Short History
• The rise of Patrick Switzer, Downhill Skateboarder
• Letter to Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon: Why Jeopardize the Ashbridges Bay Skate Park?
• Concrete Wave’s Lame ‘Pin-Up’ Cover
• The Banana Split -- Four Years Later
• Grappling with another longboarding death
• Our first longboarding tragedy
• Speed! Thrills! Women! FUBU Skate Race Recap
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| Proud shop owners Rob Sydia and Mike McGown |
I dropped in on the two proprietors, Rob Sydia, and Mike McGown (a.k.a. ‘Smooth Chicken’) to discuss the new business and what they have planned for the future. Located on a gritty stretch of Queen Street East, their compact shop is open every day, ‘noon-ish to seven’ (five on weekends). When the spring season starts, official hours will be 11 am to 8pm.
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| Longboard Haven: Now open for business at 183 Queen St. E |
The Origins of Longboard Haven: Pat Switzer
Longboard Haven is a name that has a history in Toronto longboarding circles.
The shop had its first incarnation seven years ago as a (literally) underground operation, run from the basement apartments of Patrick Switzer -- who has since become one of the world’s top downhill skateboarders. McGown was his room-mate and close friend; the Haven was named after a secret skate garage near Eglinton and Leslie they used to frequent, along with Sydia and a couple of others.
Switzer supplied and serviced the then-nascent Toronto longboarding community, featuring specialized gear that regular skate shops often wouldn’t carry, and which was otherwise difficult to obtain.
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| Longboard Haven was once run from Mike and Pat’s old Essex St. basement apartment [the very first incarnation was in the basement of Adam Winston’s family home]. Photo circa 2008, courtesy Patrick Switzer |
Switzer subsequently moved west to pursue his downhill racing career, and the business was shuttered. I reached out to Pat (based in Vancouver & not involved in the current version, except karmically) to ask what he thought about LBH’s fresh start as an actual bricks and mortar store. His comment:
I am honoured that the store is having a rebirth -- like we imagined it could one day be. Rob and Mike were invaluable to what Longboard Haven was as a underground skate shop. Now they are taking that dream, good vibes and ideology of being different and for the community, to a new level.
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| Pat & Mike in their salad days “E.S. 4 life!” |
Equipping Riders with the Right Gear
I asked McGown why he and Sydia would take up the challenge of starting up a for-real retail shop, when the industry is notorious for turnover, and undergoing a transition as online distributors compress margins. McGown’s explanation of the opportunity:
Toronto’s skate market needs it. There’s a hole in how people get gear. When Pat and I ran the shop out of the basement initially, it was only to bring in gear that people wanted that was... a little bit out there. You wanted a truck that was made halfway around the world? Ok, we’re going to get that for you, that's the quality that we’re looking for. And that has [since] kind of slipped away.
You have shops selling some pretty cheap ‘Made in China’ stuff. Both Rob and I didn’t like what we were seeing.
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| Longboard Haven will stock a focused selection of high-quality skate gear |
He informed me of the shop’s unofficial motto, which has a distinctly old-timey cadence:
‘If we won’t ride it, we won’t stock it.’Sydia then chimed in:
We saw an explosion of the grom community. You have new skaters arriving at the scene, they see the videos on YouTube of Pat or John or Mike and they want to go in at 100kph.
But there’s a learning curve. How do we bring things back to that? It starts with your gear -- understanding the gear. The philosophy is, we brought the best of the best in, and it’s the rider that determines what they purchase, with our help.
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| The Longboard Haven logo: Can you name all the silhouettes? |
The voluble and often bombastic Sydia has been skating for a long time [sorry, Rob!]. He’s... the skater dad. The adult who patiently calms down the cops. Who explains to parents what their kids are really doing. Who tells you to put on a helmet [which he’s now in a position to sell you, ahem].
He’s also been involved behind the scenes, as a mentor, influence and advisor to Switzer and others within the skate community via Gnar Extreme Sports Management. Sydia contends that the sport has grown too large overall to stay underground, and that it must evolve towards legitimacy. The shop is one facet of his participation in that maturation process.
I asked about their pricing approach -- something that can be a sensitive topic with skate shops, from both the customer and supplier directions. Sydia understands the tension, but was careful to emphasize their shop would prioritize selling quality and premium goods at fair (but not cut-rate) prices.
He elaborated again on the mindset they are bringing:
Your style and my style are different. Mike's style is different. What feels right under your feet might not feel good under my feet. So the idea is to stock the best gear -- we’re not dealing any junk, ever -- and work with the customer to dial it down...
It's about equipping riders with knowledge, equipping them with the right gear, and then putting really good safety around it.
A Community Hub
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| Sign the downstairs lounge wall... |
What’s more, the pair intend the shop to be much more than just an outlet of goods. Their vision is to become an important nucleus of the Ontario skate community, and to get more people involved.
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| Switzer’s leathers on display... |
It’ll be like a museum -- of our culture.
(BTW rabid Pat Switzer fans: his old race leathers are on temporary display in the lower level, until the model leathers come in. If you want to see & touch a piece of longboarding history, check it out now.)
An Obvious Labour of Love
The venture is self-funded (Sydia is the principal owner, with veteran skater McGown as a secondary partner). It took the duo two months of intense labour to clean, renovate, paint, set up, decorate, and stock the establishment, housed inside a former art-gallery.
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| Chicken: working for himself now Photo courtesy Jonathan Nuss |
I wish them every success.
Longboard Haven -- featuring the nicest skate shop washroom you’ll ever use -- is located at 183 Queen St. East, Toronto. Support your local shop!
[Full disclosure: Chicken is a friend of mine. And Sydia’s friends with everyone. Mostly.]
Past Skate Articles From Me
• Profile: Justin Readings, Downhill Skateboarder
• Is skateboarding illegal in Toronto?
• The Toronto Board Meeting: A Short History
• The rise of Patrick Switzer, Downhill Skateboarder
• Letter to Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon: Why Jeopardize the Ashbridges Bay Skate Park?
• Concrete Wave’s Lame ‘Pin-Up’ Cover
• The Banana Split -- Four Years Later
• Grappling with another longboarding death
• Our first longboarding tragedy
• Speed! Thrills! Women! FUBU Skate Race Recap
The Charleston set to The Creeps
A friend of mine lamented the silliness of modern dance crazes like the Harlem Shake. This was my response:
[LINK]
[LINK]
Harlem Ducks
This is about a week too late, but, whatever. Ducklings. They’re cute.
cf. Harlem Shake meme. It’s pop culture; why not participate?
This is my favorite version, which remixes Charlie Brown [I have a penchant for cultural remixes and adaptations]:
[LINK]
See also this complete explanation of the origins.
cf. Harlem Shake meme. It’s pop culture; why not participate?
This is my favorite version, which remixes Charlie Brown [I have a penchant for cultural remixes and adaptations]:
[LINK]
See also this complete explanation of the origins.
Toronto History Links and Resources
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| Toronto, Canada West by Edwin Whitefield, 1854 |
Toronto Public Library: Digital Archive search
Globe and Mail online archive 1844-2009 (need TPL card)
Toronto Star online archive 1894-2009 (need TPL card)
Toronto Public Library: Historical resources by Neighbourhood
City of Toronto Archives: database image search
Archives of Ontario [click 'Archives Descriptive Database']
Library and Archives Canada: LAC searchGoad’s Atlas of the City of Toronto
Historical Maps of Toronto
Fort York and Garrison Common Maps
(Yes -- I know these are my own sites!)
List of Toronto City Directories (1833-1922 via Jane MacNamara)
Map resources
University of Toronto Map & Data LibraryCity of Toronto Archives
Toronto Public Library - Maps Collection
TPL guide to online map sources - a broad source list
City of Toronto maps (Contemporary)
Miscellaneous sites of interest
Vintage Toronto on FacebookToronto’s Historical Plaques
Lost Toronto - Superb collection of 'then and now' photos
Wholemaps.com - collection of photos by date, neighbourhood
Simcoe’s Gentry - Toronto’s Park Lots
fortyork.ca - Friends of Fort York
Transit Toronto
wherethestorytakesme - blog by Jane MacNamara
Toronto Then and Now Photographs - thread on urbantoronto.ca
Ontario Road Maps
Ontario War Memorials
Chuckman's Photos: Toronto Nostalgia
Wolfram|Alpha and my Friend Network
Wolfram|Alpha updated their Personal Analytics for Facebook tool. To be honest I’d forgotten about it.
The generated report doesn’t really tell me anything super-amazing about my Facebook usage and network, but it still has a couple of interesting tidbits...
Apparently my friend network boils down to just four relatively-unrelated major clusters (see right).
Most of my friends have a few hundred friends:
The wordcloud from my wall posts is disappointingly bland. My vocabulary could use a thesaurus upgrade, I guess. And I would have hoped ‘Yay’ would occur more often:
If you’re curious about how your usage of Facebook stacks up, head over to Wolfram|Alpha and run a report against your account!
Note: requires you to give significant permissions to the Wolfram|Alpha app to generate the report... (I allowed it, then disabled it after running the report. Of course in that timeframe they can slurp basically anything they want about you into their database.)
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| My friend network |
Apparently my friend network boils down to just four relatively-unrelated major clusters (see right).
Most of my friends have a few hundred friends:
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| Number of friends per friend |
The wordcloud from my wall posts is disappointingly bland. My vocabulary could use a thesaurus upgrade, I guess. And I would have hoped ‘Yay’ would occur more often:
If you’re curious about how your usage of Facebook stacks up, head over to Wolfram|Alpha and run a report against your account!
Note: requires you to give significant permissions to the Wolfram|Alpha app to generate the report... (I allowed it, then disabled it after running the report. Of course in that timeframe they can slurp basically anything they want about you into their database.)
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