3/8/2010
I had a great weekend. My friend, Virginia came over for dinner. I showed Virginia the Millionaire game. I didn’t show Virginia the YouTube weather. I had dinner. For dinner, I had lemon chicken. After dinner I had dessert. For dessert I had ice cream. After dessert Daddy watched the Oscars. The Oscars were boring. I can’t watch it. I had a great time with Virginia.
Who doesn’t love Rube Goldberg machines? Those improbable contraptions where one moving object sets off another, which then causes another object to move, and on and on until some (usually simple) action is performed. These very silly devices started out as cartoons by Reuben Goldberg in the early 20th century. (The British equivalent were drawn by W. Heath Robinson, and to this day in the UK these devices are known as “Heath Robinson contraptions”.)
Nowadays there are contests to build real-life Rube Goldberg machines, and there’s something fascinating in watching a complicated, creative one perform its tricks. A couple of notable devices have become extremely popular on YouTube:
Honda ad “The Cog”, where parts of a disassembled Honda Accord are used in interesting ways.
Though the ad looks as though it was done in one shot, it was actually done in two separate halves because the studio lacked space to do it in one setup. The halves were stitched together digitally at around the 1:00 min mark (when the muffler is rolling along the floor), but otherwise there is no CG hanky-panky.
Another great example is the brand-new music video “This Too Shall Pass” from the always-creative popsters OK Go (they of the cleverly-choreographed video on treadmills that went viral a couple of years back).
This took three months of preparation and more than 60 takes over two days of filming. The finished video is one single shot using a Steadicam filming a very precisely-timed device (watch how things happen in real time to the music!) covering two floors of a warehouse.
For both the ad and the video, notice how the really fiddly bits that require much delicacy and accuracy are featured up front. This is so if they go wrong (a common occurrence) the filmmakers don’t have to re-set the entire works. Many of those 60+ takes for OK Go’s video were a minute or less.
Added: Here’s a great article at Make Magazine about the nuts and bolts of making the video. Quote:
I think we did that first sequence about 70 times. When we got past the tire, we knew we had a chance. When the piano dropped without triggering the flags or chairs, we started getting excited. If the sledgehammer blew up the TV we were in the home stretch. It was a tense video to film!
Most coffee drinkers I know acquired the caffeine habit during university all-nighters. I never did—only to start succumbing during my umpty-ump-year stint at a boring downtown office job. I followed the usual course: sweet, milkshake-like frappuccinos became the gateway drug to the harder-core stuff.
After getting an espresso maker for Christmas a few years ago I read up all I could about making espresso-based drinks: How old the beans should be; the proper espresso/milk/foam proportions; the best way to foam milk; grinder do’s and don’ts. I can make a passable cappuccino—on a good day I can crank out one better than some I’ve had at Starbucks—but my skill and my machine are simply not good enough to produce a truly celestial espresso. For that I have to go to the professional shops.
Toronto seems to be going through an independent-coffeehouse boom these days. I recently read that there are at least 25 new cafés opening in T.O. this year. (It’s about time—Vancouver’s coffeehouse scene is miles ahead of what Toronto currently offers.) Two of those are very close to our house: Rooster Coffeehouse (479 Broadview, at Withrow) and Si Espresso Bar (748 Broadview, just below the Danforth). This adds to the three relatively near our place (Broadview Espresso, Mercury Espresso Bar and Dark Horse Espresso Bar.) I visited the two new Broadview Ave. shops, and these are my quick impressions (by no means an extensive review, since I only order cappuccinos, and I didn’t have any pastries):
When Rooster Coffeehouse opened about a month ago, it replaced a rather useless corner-grocery-store-cum-sculpture-gallery (yes, it was as stupid as it sounds). It features huge windows with a terrific view of Riverdale Park and downtown Toronto. There’s a big worktable at the back, and smaller tables and comfy chairs throughout, as well as a bar and stools at the front (letting you easily keep an eye on your dog). The whole vibe is easy-going and neighbourly. The cappuccinos are excellent, both to look at (lovely latte art) and to taste, and are the correct size (small) and consistency (creamy microfoam throughout, rather than separate layers of milk and foam). And sooo much more convenient than the Queen Street shops; when the weather gets warmer I can see a lot of dog-walking to Rooster’s patio!
Si Espresso Bar is not built for hanging around all day: It’s tiny and sports only narrow bar tables and stools. It would be tricky to read a broadsheet newspaper while drinking your coffee. The owner is friendly enough, in a hipster-dude kind of way. The day I was there two young guys (evidently friends of the owner) were lounging about, and though they seemed nice it reminded me—unpleasantly—of some of the stores on the Danforth that are always decked out with lounging geezers, making the establishment feel a bit like a private men’s club. I could put up with this, though, if the coffee was excellent. Unfortunately the cappuccino I had there was definitely mediocre: Large cups (too much milk), with big bubbles in the cap of dryish foam. How disappointing!
I am really hoping that the owner/barista had an off day that day.
I actually don’t really care much about the aesthetics of a coffee place; Mercury Espresso is my gold standard for places with zero ambience but superb espresso, and I go there whenever I need to pick up some beans. (Though I am looking forward to trying the beans from Rooster—they use Te Aro, a local roaster.)
Yes, the pricing at Si is good (the price for a small cappuccinos is cheaper than anywhere else I know); however, his small capp is larger than I’d prefer. I find anything over 5 or 6 oz. dilutes the espresso too much—makes it more like a latte than a true cappuccino.
I’ve never tried the sweets at either place so I can believe they’re all tasty—and all locally-made, too!
Glad to hear about Rooster. We’ve got Broadview Espresso up here now, and I treat myself sometimes with a trip there. It’s a joy to watch the owner make a latte: he gets all funky with the foam, and has such a look of concentration as he makes it.
Ooh, I want to try Broadview Espresso soon, but I’m rarely up in that neck of the woods (and when I am I’m usually with dog.)
I recently bought some Te Aro beans from Rooster, both regular and decaf. I’m actually enjoying the flavour of the decaf slightly more, which is a huge surprise to me (I’d previously never found a decaf that I liked). So now I’m slightly conflicted as to which espresso shop to visit when I need beans—what a lovely dilemma!
I like this little ad for a sweater—erm, jumper—manufacturer in Scotland. Enjoy.
With all the talk these days about the iPad it seems a bit 2009 to talk about an iPhone app, but this one makes me cackle with malicious glee.
A couple of Western Canada software developers (one with cerebral palsy) created an iPhone app that not only helps people find handicap-accessible municipal parking spots in Vancouver, but also lets them report people who misuse the spots. You take photos of the offending car and licence plate, and the program sends them, along with the GPS location and a timestamp, to Vancouver city officials, who then mail out a parking ticket to the miscreant’s address.
Unfortunately, there are only about 50 accessible spots administered by the City of Vancouver (the rest are in privately-owned lots), but by jiminy it’s a start!
CBC article: Handicap parking cheaters tagged by iPhone app
At last, at last, at last. Toronto, do you hear?
The weather network is changing the music for the Local Forecast. They’re letting people choose between five different pieces of music. You can vote for your favourite song at www.theweathernetwork.com. until January 24th.
Vote Now!
I was really getting bored and annoyed with the old one, but I can’t figure out which of the new ones I like best. I don’t really see why they can’t just rotate through all of them, or randomize the selection…
Well if Jon had his way, everyone would vote for #5! Though P and I are more partial to #1, although I’m finding it a bit of an earworm…
In our last eye doctor episode, Dr. Wiggins confirmed that Jon’s eyes had stabilized (somehow) back to a focus point where he didn’t need glasses, but that we should be watchful in case he suddenly started squinting or leaning over to try to get closer—especially during the sudden growth segment of puberty. This alert was based on the fact that:
So come November, we started seeing such behaviour occasionally, while Jon was watching TV, etc. We kept watching for it, and although it wasn’t constant, there definitely did seem to be something going on. By mid-December we booked an appointment for last Thursday.
So what’s the upshot of yet another trip to Waterloo, to visit the good doctor and his pair of students? Nada. Nuffink. Jon’s eyes focus at exactly the same prescription as previously (for the record, ever-so-slightly farsighted—but nothing that requires glasses). We were slightly perturbed. I began to apologize for taking up their time and Dr. Wiggins stopped me. “I asked you to watch out for a particular behaviour and you saw it. You didn’t call the first time you saw it, you kept on the lookout and saw it repeated a number of times. I told you to call me if it kept up. It turns out that it’s not Jon’s ability to focus. But it could have been an entirely different outcome.”
The doctor speculated that given that the eyes are okay, it’s likely CNS (central nervous system)-based, a pretty solid call given Jon’s cerebral history. This suggests that the wash of hormonal activity happening around Jon’s body is affecting the development of his visual cortex. Not a huge leap of logic, that one. But yet another fascinating chapter (to us, anyway) in Jon’s growth.
I actually had a positive comment about this place.I found the owner to be really nice,and had offered my girlfriend and I free biscotti.We had a latte and a cappuccino and it was really good.I would go back and also his pricing was very fair.