Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Allah-Las, Venues with Patios & Pokemon GO

Weekly Update 2016-33: Some 60s revival rock and roll from Allah-Las, the concept of a bar having both a patio and a stage for concerts, and the unrealized potential of Pokemon GO.

Music: Allah-Las
Some smooth sixties rock and roll was licking away at my brain as I researched some design conferences and courses this afternoon. I am not at all surprised to find that the band is from California, because they sound like it. I love the Wikipedia genre classifications of the band:
  • garage rock
  • rock and roll
  • psychedelic rock
  • surf rock
  • 60s revival music
All of that together pretty much sums them up. Listen:


Accomplishment:
I fully compiled and edited the video of all the bands I saw at Wayhome! Unfortunately my trial of Adobe Premiere ended just as the video was rendering. Seriously. So I'll have to render the video at home on another trial, hopefully this week.

I also managed to get more of my preferences back onto my computer last week, including iTunes...which is pushing me closer and closer to using Spotify...and a bunch of Adobe Programs (not Premiere though).

Updates in all things cycle-related: I was biking in the rain (something I do not like to do) and I slipped into a streetcar track. I wobbled back and forth for the scariest ten seconds of my life. Then I worked myself out of it and kept pedalling without even stopping throughout this entire experience. I only really registered what had happened to me about five seconds afterward, and shouted "OH FUCK" really loud. I think people were generally confused about why exactly I had exclaimed, but whatever.

My bike rack also unexpectedly broke in half during a ride to work on Monday – pretty scary. The broken piece was sharp and cutting into my back brake wire, so I had to walk it to work and formulate a plan of how to get it to a bike shop. I ended up walking my bike all the way to the Annex to have it fixed there, at which point I was told that my bike seat is broken beyond repair and needs to be replaced. Fun times.

And if that wasn't enough, the next time I rode it (this morning), I realized the back brakes had come completely "undone", most likely leftover from the repairs made on Monday. After freaking out for a moment, I inspected the way the front wheel brakes were placed and figured out how to get the brake back in. It would be really cool if I actually understood how bikes worked and could repair minor things in the bike myself. But you can't do it all.

Also on Monday, some coworkers and I went to a super secret Nike training session (mostly product placement and a chance to try some of their new shoes). There was a photographer taking pictures as well, including this winner:

The shoes were actually really uncomfortable. Just so you know.

Goal:
I've been having a bit of a rough go of things, so this week all I want to do is get my dad to take another look at the design for his business cards and call The Printing House to get them printed.

It would also be great if I could get Adobe Premiere and After Effects onto my computer, and sort out/clean all of my files into something remotely manageable.

Random Thought:
There are some great venues in Toronto, like the Danforth Music Hall, Lee's Palace, and the Opera House. I don't even really mind going to the Mod Club or Sneaky Dee's for a show (especially when there's nachos after). I'd say the same thing of bars with excellent outdoor spaces, like Bellwoods Brewery or Northwood's even-more-excellent parkside patio, complete with a fake owl perched over the sudsed-out hipsters.

What I'm really missing in this town of hot, hot summers is a good outdoor (or partially outdoor) music venue (in the sense of the ones mentioned above). And why not? I know it snows here, but we could have such a great venue for indie musicians to play in the warm breeze. I suppose the closest thing I'm going to get is the Bandshell at the CNE at the end of the summer.

Inspiration:
Honestly, it took me a while to get into Pokemon Go. I understand why some people still refuse to get on the bandwagon, but for those who are still clinging to their real, non Pokemon-infested lives, I want to point out something really nice about the app (and the original version of the Pokemon-skinned game Ingress) that may be overlooked.

You may know that Pokemon Go has a concept called Pokestops. These Pokestops are real-world landmarks at which players can build up their wares of items to use later. But what's great is that these Pokestops are largely made up of a mixture of tourist landmarks, good restaurants, and hidden public art. So, not only do players unwittingly get a good taste of culture poured down their throats, but tourists in new cities can use the app as a sort of tour guide to see those sorts of things.


Hey, remember this equipment box from my Instagram? The artist even commented on my photo!

And as a bonus, these tourists will already have something in common with the natives who gather around such Pokestops, because they both play the game.

Bam.

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