A beautiful spring illo by Mary Kate McDevitt (via Portland Lettering Collective).
Music: Softwar
The days are getting longer and I'm feeling the sunshine on my face again. One of the specific electronic genres I have been gravitating toward lately totally matches that vibe - 90s happy house. Softwar is a a duo from Sydney (Myles du Chateau & Jeremy Lloyd) who have been revisiting this merry chapter of music in the last few years. There are very rarely any lyrics beyond hazy, repeated bars of the same unintelligible note sequence, but honestly that's what makes the music so good - for writing, concentrating, or doing repetitive tasks like cleaning. I imagine it would be very good for dancing when one is very drunk and can't handle any sudden changes in music, either. Nice and slow, sunny and breezy music. What else can one ask for?
Favourite tracks include This Time Around, Darker, Believe and One Day.
Accomplishment:
This week marks my favourite Jewish holiday - Passover. What a way to spring into April, eating tons of matzah balls and beef brisket and potato kugel. And what's even better than all three of the above items were made by my sister, my mother and myself respectively. Yes, my mother is an amazing cook but does not enjoy it as much as her daughters, so we helped out and all made a different part of dinner. It was the first time I ever made kugel:
They're like potato brownies.
You can see my mother's brisket in the middle - so tasty.
Depending on how good your design eye is, and how long you've been reading my blog, you may notice a few typographic changes. I've been trying to improve little things here and there about the reading experience, and actually had a big aha moment last week. I am really frustrated with how little Blogger has changed in the past few years and how its author-based user interface (my side of the controls) seems to be stuck in a simpler era (2008 A.D.) In this moment of frustration I wondered aloud if Google even supports Blogger anymore, and decided to Google search just that. Give me some answers! Anyway I found some answers: Blogger maintains a highly active Help Forum.
Within about a day of asking my question (about the italics of my blog looking like the screen had just crushed the letterforms sideways), I got several replies, one of which escalated magically somehow to a Google employee who troubleshot and solved my problem for me. So now, you see proper italics!
Goal:
I'd like to reflect on the seders I attended this weekend and think about how I want to represent them in my Holidays book, and take in some art at OCADU's Sunshine Eaters exhibit. It's pretty close to my office and open until 7:00 on some evenings...and I want to check out Assembly Chef's Hall again for dinner too. Gotta have a full stomach to absorb the beautiful art. I can't wait to check out more of Shary Boyle's art.
We'll be beginning our Dungeons & Dragons campaign at work this week, I'm pretty excited to test out my character. And if all that weren't enough, I'll be roadtripping to Ottawa on Saturday to pick up my roommate's new puppy!
Random Thought: The Consumer/Creator Relationship
I sometimes write abstractly on my blog about a recent hobby I have taken up that's been a growing part of my life. It all started when I joined a Facebook group called Young Urbanists League, which I definitely suggest if you're into new urbanism and/or Toronto culture. Public Facebook groups can often be intimidating places, seemingly over-controlled by members who have too many inside jokes and underhanded references for a new user to ever feel welcome, much less want to make a post themselves.
I mention Young Urbanists League specifically because it created an atmosphere where I felt comfortable to post something, which led to my move from consumer to creator in many other Facebook groups. I know it may seem trivial, but these groups of various topics from human emotions to amateur culinary skills to trains and their enthusiasts (with people from all over the world) have made me feel at once more connected to people who share some of my weird interests, and inspired me to change my outlook on many things. Most importantly, they're actually full of people who don't mirror my opinions and don't make me feel like Facebook is an echo chamber. I've made an effort to see other people's point of view on tons of different things, and it's made me a better person.
I read a statistic somewhere that 90% of social media users are consumers who rarely, if ever, post any content, leaving the remaining 10% creators who provide for the consumers. I have always felt like a consumer throughout my social media journey (I don't count the blog because I write it for myself - consumption) until I joined these groups. I have started to post more and become an active member, which has helped me to strengthen the bond and connection I felt. I give and get advice, learn, ask questions and post photos of food I've made. I've made jokes about the TTC with people from Boston, explained poutine to a European, and I've even invited some of my real-life friends to join and share in these communities as well.
I suppose Reddit is the true, unfiltered version of Facebook groups, but having this interface as a part of Facebook (which I already use to keep in touch with friends) where people don't hide behind usernames is actually a huge bonus in my eyes.
Inspiration: Winter Stations
Outdoor art exhibits are the best. There's something really special about enjoying art in the open air and sky that takes it to a whole new level. Outdoor art is also usually more accessible than indoor art (because there aren't any walls - duh) and is often free of charge. Such was the case for Toronto's fourth installment of Winter Stations - a lovely display of sculptural installations around existing lifeguard stations on Kew Beach. 2018 brought us seven installations that I visited last weekend with some friends. It was a lovely overcast day - great for pictures.
A view of all seven stations (and C.N. Tower!)
A cute little message someone wrote on the installation. Of course I am not for defacing art, but this seemed to fit with the piece's message.
I like taking candid photos.
Pussy Hut by Martin Miller & Mo Zheng
Action shot: skipping stones.
One of the many statues part of the series called Revolution by OCAD University -
Ben Chang, Anna Pogossyan, Amr Alzahabi, Carlos Chin, Iris Ho, Tracee Jia, Krystal Lum, Adria Maynard, Purvangi Patel, Judiette Vu.
Obstacle by Kien Pham - This one was really fun to walk into and be enveloped by.
Wind Station by Paul van den Berg & Joyce de Grauw
Make Some Noise!!! by Alexandra Grieß & Jorel Heid - turn the crank to sound the siren!
As you can see in the photos, this installation brought a lot of people together which was amazing to see. There was even a community piano beside a little beach bonfire that two kids were playing on. So sue me, I took a picture of them, too. It was cute and I had my DSLR.
Learn more about Winter Stations on their website.
I just saw my profile pic from Blogger here in the comment section and I'm loling :P Great post I enjoyed reading about the Winter Stations. Missed you at rehearsal!
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