Last Friday, I visited Google Canada's headquarters in the Toronto Life Complex and talked with Mike Pegg, Google Map's product marketing manager and the founder of Google Maps Mania (a blog devoted to Google Maps mashups and tools) and Tamara Micner, Google Canada’s communications officer, for a Torontoist article on Google Maps. The interview was a lot of fun (Pegg and Micner showed me a lot of great Toronto-themed map mashups), and it was interesting to see the glamorous Google office firsthand; not every office has a fully stocked kitchen and a patio that overlooks Toronto Square.
Trash Wars has already received more media attention than it deserves, so I'm somewhat reluctant to discuss it further, but someone has to point out just how awful it is. This game is an advertisement for 29-year-old computer programmer Hafiz Kassam, and his studio, Q-Kmbr Games, and a rather poor one at that. It’s clear that no thought or effort went into the design of this game. You play as some poorly drawn, nameless schmuck with a pistol that’s tasked to defend a pile of garbage from an ever growing infestation of rats. Killing the rats is as easy as pointing and clicking, or at least that’s the way it works at the beginning; near the end, when there’s too many rats on the screen, the game’s hit-detection system breaks down, and most of your bullets pass harmlessly through their targets. Thankfully, the game’s short; after you’ve killed six-hundred rats, it ends.
Based on the skyline, we guess that the action takes place somewhere on Toronto Island, but the skyline is really the only clue—change it, and this could be about any city with a garbage or rat problem.
As an amusement park attraction, the Shweeb is pretty cool; as mass transit system, it’s stupid. The Shweeb is the world’s first human-powered monorail racetrack in Roterua, New Zealand. At the moment, it’s only a ride, but its inventors hope to one day build monorail networks around the world. But it’s never going to happen; the Shweeb is an impractical transportation system that’s wrought with dangers and inefficiencies. Imagine if a pod breaks down mid trip: the person inside would be trapped, and all the people behind it would be stuck until it’s fixed. It’s a cool idea, unfortunately it’s just not realistic.
We love fantasy maps of all shapes and sizes, including preposterous ones, like this future map of Europe from the chaos-obsessed folks over at ComingAnarchy.com. The only independence movements on this map that have any chance of success are Scotland, the Basque Country, and Catalonia. The rest are pure fantasy. The national independence movements in Germany, France, and Italy are weaker than the Free Alberta Movement in Canada.
Yesterday evening, I spotted this garbage bin in the Norseman Heights area in Etobicoke. I think the bin’s owner might be sending a message beyond their bumper sticker, as Monday isn’t garbage day in Etobicoke.
Then Outside Union Station, Yonge and Front streets. (1954)
Now Outside Union Station, Yonge and Front streets. (2009)
In 1959, an eastern wing was added to the Royal York Hotel. I wasn't aware of the addition when I went to recreate this photo, and at first I was puzzled when I couldn't seem to line up my shot.
The 1954 photo of Yonge and Front streets comes from the City of Toronto Archives; the 2009 photo is by Stephen M.
Auto Tune the News is a witty send up of the mindless nature of 24-hour news coverage. The “faux R&B series,” created by musician Michael Gregory and his band The Gregory Brothers, remixes footage from C-Span, Fox News, CNN, and a dozen other news outlets with catchy beats, absurd rhyming, and mechanical T-Pain style vocals. The voice effects are created by Auto-Tune, a program that’s usually used by studios to clean up imperfect pop vocals, but when it’s used on people who aren’t singing, it makes them sound like lyrical robots.
Making the cable news networks look dumber than they already are is an impressive feat, especially when The Daily Show often gets its biggest laughs just by running through the news goofs of the week. Gregory succeeds, often by transforming the pundits and politicians’ sound-bites into ridiculous lyrics; as he did in his latest video with Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner. The overused media news panel is also frequently satirized. In their fifth video, the team responds to a NBC panel discussion on the unassailable nature of American exceptionalism by crooning, “Yeah we the Promised Land, the sacred place, getting blessed by Joe Biden from space!” Following which, an image of Joe Biden singing “God Bless America” appears on one of the studio’s HD TVs.
To date, six episodes have been released, the latest of which (featured above) takes on Republican House Representative John Boehner, Sarah Palin, Michael Jackson’s death, and Katie Couric (who has been featured in every video so far).
Krakatoa just doesn't know when to stop. The island volcano in Indonesia has been erupting for the past 1500 years. In its most famous eruption in 1883, it destroyed two-thirds of the island of Krakatoa and killed more than 36,000 people. In 1927, another eruption gave birth to Anak Krakatau, a volcano which has since risen to more than three hundred metres in height. Anak Krakatau's latest eruption began in 2008 and continues today (as seen above).
I spotted these strange lights all along the tracks at Keele Station today. I'm not entirely sure what they're for, but they probably have something to do with the construction that's going on there.
When you look at the lights from the end of the platform, they kind of look like runway lights to guide the train in.
This week for Torontoist I briefly talked about John Chuckman's Toronto postcard collection, and created a gallery of some of his best uploads. Unfortunately, Chuckman declined my interview requests, so I still don't know what his sources are.
Edna: Good news, people! [the other teachers cheer] I'm happy to announce that another union has joined us in a sympathy strike: the piano tuners' Local 412! [the teachers look at one another, confused] [a piano tuner stands outside a house with an out-of-tune piano and looks smug]
Then Bank of Montreal Building, northwest corner of Front and Yonge streets. (ca. 1900)
Now Hockey Hall of Fame, northwest corner of Front and Yonge streets. (2009)
This example of late nineteenth century architecture was built in 1885 by the Bank of Montreal, and used as the bank's Toronto headquarters until 1949, when the bank moved to the corner of King and Bay streets. The building was then used as a branch until 1982. After laying dormant for a decade, the building was reopened on June 18, 1993 as the new Hockey Hall of Fame.
The photo of the Bank of Montreal building comes from the City of Toronto Archives. The photo of the Hockey Hall of Fame is by Stephen M.
After twenty-two days without city workers, Toronto's more heavily trafficked parks are still fairly neat, but some of the parks on the suburban fringes are starting to look a little unkempt and overgrown (especially the gardens—see above). If the strike continues for a few more weeks, Toronto's parks are going to start looking a little more "natural."
Two weeks ago in Kansas City, Johnson County Library launched its new fleet of literary themed book delivery trucks. Each truck promotes a fictional business based on literary classic, like Captain Ahab’s Fine Seafood, or Kafka’s Pest Control, and every truck includes the tag line: "Available at Johnson County Library."
Will this cool and innovative scheme pull people away from their televisions and into their local library? In the US, with "Dancing with the Stars" in full swing, not likely.
Entrance to Royal York Station, on Royal York Road.
The city workers' strike is now in its sixteen day, with no end in sight. Yesterday, we took a walk along Bloor Street West (between Old Mill Station and Islington Avenue) to see how Etobicoke—the only part of the city with private residential collection—was faring. The answer: not so good. Most of the city bins we saw were overflowing, and the garbage piled up at Islington Station was absolutely disgusting.
Bloor Street West and Montgomery Road, northeast corner.
What’s particularly galling about this situation is that Etobians—unlike the rest of the city's residents—have plenty of options when it comes to disposing their waste. But God forbid they actually take their garbage home; that would just be inconvenient. There’s also absolutely no reason for the garbage buildup around Islington and Royal York stations—the TTC has plenty of trash cans, which it continues to empty.
On my way home yesterday, I stopped by the Transfer Station at Etienne Brulé Park. I was actually surprised at how neat the station was. I half expected to see garbage strewn about everywhere, but everything was orderly.
Occasionally, the Time Dilation Accelerator defies the laws of space and time by going back to review the best (or the weirdest) aspects of the early 90s.
Alright, we’ll level with you, this series is just a vaguely disguised excuse to review cartoons from the early 90s—we might move on to something else in the future, but don’t count on it.
This week, we’re taking a look at the intro from the cartoon show Sonic the Hedgehog (or Sonic SatAm, as it’s commonly referred to, because it aired on Saturday mornings...duh!) The show, which was created by DiC Entertainment, ran from 1993 to 1995, and was loosely based on the video game. Now, we’ll be honest here: we were never big Sonic fans. Some of the games were okay, but far too many of them equated speed with fun. Sega’s advertising even bluntly argued that Sonic was better than Mario because he was faster—an argument which no one bought.
Considering what DiC had to work with, Sonic SatAm isn’t that bad. For a cartoon show, it’s fairly complex and even a little gritty at times. If you’re not familiar with the plot, here’s a quick back story. The show takes place on the planet Mobius sometime in thirty-third century, ten years after the evil Doctor Julian Ivo Robotnik conquered the peaceful city of Mobotropolis and turned all of its residents into robots. The show focuses on the few citizens who managed to escape to the Great Forest—including Sonic—and their war against Robotnik's rampant industrialization. (Yes, another over-the-top eco-message...sigh.) Imagine if rebels in Star Wars were all Ewoks; that’s kind of what Sonic SatAm is like.
Throughout the show, Dr Robotnik was superbly voiced by Jim Cummings.
Arguably, the best (and most annoying) part of the show is the catchy opening theme: "The Fastest Thing Alive," which was written and recorded by Noisy Neighbors Productions. Even after fourteen years, we sometimes still catch ourselves humming the tune. The objective of an opening theme is to catch the viewer's attention, and maybe, if possible, explain the show. "The Fastest Thing Alive" accomplishes both. The opening is exciting, well-animated, and memorable and it also summarizes the plot: Robotnik took over, so now Sonic and his friends are fighting an underground war against him. A great theme can make or break a show; Sonic may not be the greatest early 90s cartoon show, or even one of the best, but it's clever and catchy opening will help it live on indefinitely.
According to Slate and a YouTube spokesperson, twenty hours of footage are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That's insane—by that statistic, in 2009, users will upload approximately 10,000,000 hours, or 1,000 years of footage to YouTube.
The image above is a screenshot from the Intrepid's statcounter. I'm not sure what's weirder, the guy's search terms (I'm assuming it's a guy), the fact that they led him here, or that he left SafeSearch on. What was he expecting? Safe and wholesome pictures of Jessica Alba having sex, or something that conforms to Saudi censorship laws? And why would you use the word "conceiving" instead of "sex"? It's a little formal for someone who just wants to find porn.
Oddly enough, this isn't the first time we've seen strange sex-related search terms leading Saudis to this site.
