Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Desmond and a little bit of Toronto architectural history
Desmond - stranger #84 and daily photo #25/365 (or #441), originally uploaded by PJMixer.
I was photographing the old facade of O'Keefe House (Now Ryerson's G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education) when Desmond said hello and told me a little about himself and the building.
Desmond told me the building used to be the offices for O'Keefe breweries, with the top floor being the office of the business mogul E. P. Taylor. The brewery was located next door at the corner of Victoria and Dundas. I hadn't looked very closely at the sculpture on the building until Desmond pointed out they were holding barley grains designating the connection to brewing beer.
Desmond is a program director at The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, part of Ryerson University. Thanks for sharing a little about old Toronto and its architecture.
Desmond is #84 in my 100 strangers project.
The Social Network
Excellent acting all around. Although only perhaps 40% accurate, an interesting tale of .com glory. Good balance of geekdom with startup energy and big business powerdrive. Puts a little fire back in the belly of some of us in the IT world that have an idea for the web. I don't recall another significant movie that portrays a the .com startup story; long overdo very well told; and one of the reasons I'm rating this as a 7.5. Oh, and the irony of it all.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Waiting for Chuck and Vince
Yes, that's a Karaoke machine. If you don't know who Chuck and Vince are, click here.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Desmond
I was photographing the old facade of O'Keefe House (Now Ryerson's G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education) when Desmond said hello and told me a little about himself and the building.
Desmond told me the building used to be the offices for O'Keefe breweries, with the top floor being the office of the business mogul E. P. Taylor. The brewery was located next door at the corner of Victoria and Dundas. I hadn't looked very closely at the sculpture on the building until Desmond pointed out they were holding barley grains designating the connection to brewing beer.
Desmond is a program director at The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, part of Ryerson University. Thanks for sharing a little about old Toronto and its architecture.
Desmond is #84 in my 100 strangers project.
Desmond told me the building used to be the offices for O'Keefe breweries, with the top floor being the office of the business mogul E. P. Taylor. The brewery was located next door at the corner of Victoria and Dundas. I hadn't looked very closely at the sculpture on the building until Desmond pointed out they were holding barley grains designating the connection to brewing beer.
Desmond is a program director at The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, part of Ryerson University. Thanks for sharing a little about old Toronto and its architecture.
Desmond is #84 in my 100 strangers project.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Kunsang
I was at St. Lawrence Market today looking for my daily shot, I wans't having a lot of luck, but some brightly coloured sunlit scarfs caught my eye through a window on the lower level.
I walked in and took a few shots and I made a comment about the beautiful colours to the lady behind the counter. I asked if I could take her photo and introduced myself and she told me a little about herself. She was born in Nepal and has been in Canada about 11 years. She imports hand made arts and clothing from Nepal and Tibet. She told me a little about the history of her homeland. Her parents were from Tibet, but moved to Nepal when it was claimed by China.
Kunsang is #83 in my 100 strangers project.
I walked in and took a few shots and I made a comment about the beautiful colours to the lady behind the counter. I asked if I could take her photo and introduced myself and she told me a little about herself. She was born in Nepal and has been in Canada about 11 years. She imports hand made arts and clothing from Nepal and Tibet. She told me a little about the history of her homeland. Her parents were from Tibet, but moved to Nepal when it was claimed by China.
Kunsang is #83 in my 100 strangers project.
Dimitri eaten by the Virgin video booth
I couldn't resist this. I talked with Dimitri and his colleague for a little while hoping to get a clever portrait shot for my stranger project, but they were a little busy with reconfiguring the camera equipment in the Virgin Mobile booth.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Vaccines at The Horseshoe Tavern
(all photos by PJMixer)I hadn't heard of The Vaccines when I first saw the concert listing. A few days later, while flipping through Q Magazine with my husband, we're reading about the 10 New Faces of 2011 where The Vaccines were mentioned. When I saw their name, I thought it might have been the concert listing I had seen. It turns out that it was. Edge 102's Nu Music Night had The Vaccines coming to Toronto before their album is released this spring.
We arrived to the venue in time to hear the last two songs by the opening band The High Dials from Montreal. I wish I had heard more because they sounded really good. I'm downloading some of their songs today. Their fourth album was just released last November. Here's their setlist as they wrote it:
The Horseshoe Tavern is one of the few venues that allow D-SLR cameras so my husband likes to get close to try to get great quality shots of the band.Before The Vaccines went on stage, we met a guy who writes for VivoScene who flew in from Calgary for this show. He interviewed the band in the afternoon and will be posting a review on the VivoScene website later this week. That will be worth checking out.
The Vaccines are very hyped in the UK. I haven't seen a band with this much hype before their album release since Arctic Monkeys (unless I want to count Drake). Before their album is even released, they have been nominated for Critics' Choice at the Brit Awards. I was a little concerned that they wouldn't live up to the hype, especially after they cancelled a couple of shows last week because the lead singer Justin Young was recovering from throat surgery.
It seems like he has recovered well because there was no sign of it in their performance. They played a solid although short set. It was a good introduction of them to Canada and of Canada to them. Justin did mention that even their Icelandic band member had never been as cold as he was in Toronto.
I imagine they arrived on Monday because that was the really cold day. It was a balmy 2 degrees yesterday with rain and snow...but maybe it's the humidity that makes if feel even colder.
They opened the set with Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) a very upbeat song that was released as a single in November. Even with it being shorter than a minute and a half it gave a good representation of the energy that was to come.
It starts with the very singable:
Pretty girl, wreckin' bar,
Ra ra ra ra yeah you are!
Growin' up, I'm twice the man,
Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah I am!
Ra ra ra ra yeah you are!
Growin' up, I'm twice the man,
Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah I am!
This venue isn't the greatest for video taking. I like to relive the performances even when the sound isn't up to par so I record anyway, but I don't always upload them. This one was worth uploading just for the introduction.It has a very catchy chorus:
But if you wanna come back it's alright, it's alright!
It's alright if you wanna come back!
If you wanna come back it's alright, it's alright!
It's alright if you wanna come back to me!
I was happy to get a close-up view of their concert because I'm sure the next time they come, I won't want to be too close when it is actually a mosh pit. Most of their songs are high energy and easy to sing to.It's alright if you wanna come back!
If you wanna come back it's alright, it's alright!
It's alright if you wanna come back to me!
After the concert, I grabbed the setlist from the stage. I'm not sure whether they performed European Sun or Wet Suit which are marked with a question mark on the setlist. From the times on the videos I took, it's possible that they played one of them. Since they were not the songs I knew beforehand, I can't confirm.
Time will tell whether The Vaccines will live up to the hype, but I won't be surprised if they do.
Setlist:
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Officers of all colours
Sgt. Ryan Russell died in the line of duty on January 12th. This was the first death of an officer on duty in Toronto since 2002. Click here for more pictures and the full story.
Remembering Sgt. Ryan Russell
Sgt. Ryan Russell died in the line of duty on January 12th. This was the first death of an officer on duty in Toronto since 2002. Click here for more pictures and the full story.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
24 seconds a lap. 2 more years
My son recently turned 14 and I took him and a couple of his friends go-karting at GP Kartways. I'm always impressed how the boys quickly get used to pushing the real limits of the kart and their driving (rather than the video equivalent).
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Friday, January 07, 2011
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Gould Street fallout
I took some shots of the Gould Street wall collapse a few months ago and sadly, the building which had recently be designated as a Toronto heritage building, had a huge fire yesterday morning. Reports are saying that the building is now beyond repair. The fire appears quite suspicious as electricity and natural gas had been turned off.
A few blocks of Yonge street are currently cordoned off and many business inaccessible. I thought this shallow depth-of-field shot with a few cruisers in the background made for a good minimalism shot for today's daily photo. I like how only some words are in focus and a large part of the image (and the story) remain a little fuzzy.
A few blocks of Yonge street are currently cordoned off and many business inaccessible. I thought this shallow depth-of-field shot with a few cruisers in the background made for a good minimalism shot for today's daily photo. I like how only some words are in focus and a large part of the image (and the story) remain a little fuzzy.
Gould Street fallout
I took some shots of the Gould Street wall collapse a few months ago and sadly, the building which had recently be designated as a Toronto heritage building, had a huge fire yesterday morning. Reports are saying that the building is now beyond repair. The fire appears quite suspicious as electricity and natural gas had been turned off.
A few blocks of Yonge street are currently cordoned off and many business inaccessible. I thought this shallow depth-of-field shot with a few cruisers in the background made for a good minimalism shot for today's daily photo. I like how only some words are in focus and a large part of the image (and the story) remain a little fuzzy.
A few blocks of Yonge street are currently cordoned off and many business inaccessible. I thought this shallow depth-of-field shot with a few cruisers in the background made for a good minimalism shot for today's daily photo. I like how only some words are in focus and a large part of the image (and the story) remain a little fuzzy.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Circling Wychwood Barn number 4
I passed by the Artscape Wychwood Barns a few weeks ago and added it to my photo shoot ideas. I didn't have a lot of time today and it was very cold, so I'm sure I'll be returning for more shots (including the interior spaces) on other days.
Circling Wychwood Barn number 4
I passed by the Artscape Wychwood Barns a few weeks ago and added it to my photo shoot ideas. I didn't have a lot of time today and it was very cold, so I'm sure I'll be returning for more shots (including the interior spaces) on other days.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
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