Lifts and Queues 

Lift Experience from rowdyman on Vimeo.

These are some clips I put together from some recent trips to London and what I've realized is that London is really just about elevators and line-ups. Lifts and queues as a the locals might say. From singing lifts at the Royal Festival Hall to the top of the Shard (Europe's tallest building) to the London Eye.

I would also like to point out my editing technique: an infinite number of monkeys editing on an infinite number of video editing consoles. Eventually something serendipitous has to happen, right?

It's funny that all of these clips were shot on a phone. Well, it seems funny to me. Yet, we still haven't figured out a way to put a phone in a shoe, Maxwell Smart style.

The Quarterly Sextodecimo: Golden Mean 

The Quarterly Sextodecimo, vol.1, March 2013

This list started as my favourite film music but morphed into, "what tracks would I use in a film" - if I were making a movie that would somehow be a cross of North by Northwest, The Big Lebowski, Manhattan and oh I don't know, Snatch, maybe.

Hear the music. Read the playlist. Read more »

Ride On 

I think what I like about this bike is that if I were to sketch what I wanted in a bike, single-speed, diamond frame, rack and fenders, it would look a lot like this.

I'm already thinking I'll swap out the front cog for a smaller gear, from the 46 on it now, to a 42, both for ease of riding and so it can accommodate a Chainglider chain guard I have. Then it'll be the ride I've needed and wanted from a bike and all at a low, low price.

Here's to you, bike.

Groovesharks Never Sleep

…or so I'm told. I had essentially forgotten about Grooveshark being here in the streaming music ghetto known as Canada (no Pandora, no Spotify; Rdio via a subscription) but I'm hoping this thing sticks around as a way to listen and discover music - and share it such as this playlist I made up as a bit of an afternoon wake-up (no caffeine shakes or coffee tummy either). Enjoy.

Under Attack! 

Under attack… and loving it!

This fella looks so pleased to be under siege from super-sized ladies with some kind of gamma rays. I'm sure I'll make sense of it sooner or later.

Long Live the Short-lived Thing

In a discussion this morning the topic became about how explosive the "Harlem Shake" video meme has been. From an army brigade being punished for their post to an austere, minimalist software interpretation, just as this lastest Internet thing looks like it's burning out, a new version emerges. There are now so many on Youtube, it's hard to choose just one (but I did - because it follows the formula so faithfully). Fader magazine traced the story of the track and first video but Google's Trend generator do-hickey really shows it in context. Long live the Internet Meme. The Internet Meme is dead.

Ball Bearings of Berlin

Found via Co.Design

Hypnotic kinetic sculpture in a Berlin gallery by Finnish artists Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen.

Seen in February 

Scene filmed at Trinity-Bellwoods Community Centre from Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz

I guess the film that stands out for me the most this month was Take This Waltz. I could tell you about all of the Toronto locations that appear in the film or go on about the importance of the pool (which is a pool where I often swim), but that would just be masking the difficult subject the film intimately portrays and how it just sort of stuck with me. I think you need that time with something to know its real impact. Like a James Turrell work of art – sometimes you just have to sit still, staring for an uncomfortably long time to see the art in projected light. The funny thing is the first couple of movies I saw were complete throw-aways. Disposable art for a disposable age.
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