|
Caution: Point-and-click Blisters Ahead |
 This is where I keep everything else: sites I like, music I listen to, places I want to visit. It's almost like I dumped out my bookmark file and added boring commentary...
|
|
Music: Indiefolkpoprockambientelectrojazzfunk |
It used to be so much simpler. Trying to list my musical favourites makes me long for the days of going to a music store and seeing just three categories of CDs: classical, jazz and pop/rock. So rather than negotiate the tricky paths of defining my favourite music genres, here are just some of the artists (category-defying and otherwise) coming from my speakers:
 2009 has brought great new stuff from Joe Henry, Athlete, Still Life Still, Miike Snow, Bell X1, Tosca, Metric, Yusuf and Ben Lee. U2's newest is still growing on me, but I bought concert tickets anyway. The Album Leaf and Stars may also get new ones out this year. As of 2008, James are back and so are the B52s, each with great albums. Stars, Ray Lamontagne, Mercury Rev, Byrne & Eno, Amadou & Mariam all had good ones. Stars, Joe Henry, Beck, Broken Social Scene, The Sea and Cake, Maximo Park, The Weakerthans, Magnet, Grand National, and Stateless all had awesome releases in 2007. Gavin Friday hasn't released an album in far too long. The Dears, Metric, Feist, Amy Milan and Apostle of Hustle represent the wonderful Arts and Crafts crew. Memphis, Ron Sexsmith, Daniel Lanois, Tory Cassis, Sarah McLachlan, Spirit of the West and The Watchmen (reunited!) round out my favourites from Team Canada.
In the electronic department, I get beats from Richie Hawtin, Krill.Minima, Murcof, Ryuchi Sakamoto, Aim, Underworld, Loscil, dZihan and Kamien, Kruder and Dorfmeister and a ton of other people making ambient, minimal and supremely cool music.
 At the center of my radio universe is Santa Monica's KCRW, where I'm a regular listener of Morning Becomes Eclectic, Metropolis and New Ground. Jazz from Detroit's WDET is still the finest around. CBC Radio 3 rocks new (and Canadian) music, but I miss its art magazine format. Still, the coolest music on earth is found in the Ultra Lounge.
|
 Is it art? Graphic design? Statistics? The work of Edward Tufte is a revolution in all of them, and guaranteed to make you think about how you envision information. |
Inspired by homes in places like Dwell magazine, I crave modern. Sustainable. Minimal. Progressive design that even dares to go off-grid. I'm fascinated by Pre-Fab architecture from firms like Resolution 4 Architecture and Marmol-Radziner.
 For thoughts on the spaces we inhabit, I tune to BldgBlog and Karrie Jacobs.
Much of the foundation for today's leading design was laid by early- and mid-century modernists: Bauhaus icons like Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer, along with Finns Eero Saarinen and Alvar Aalto. (If I could afford it, and stop drooling long enough to shop, I would buy their work at DWR and Knoll.) Contemporary giants like Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Frank Lloyd Wright continue to push boundaries and redefine horizons, even in places like Stations and Terminals.
|
After digging through the travel guides and photography/art monographs, I quickly realize I have more books on my shelf than I have time to read.
 For a wide and interesting variety of excellent travel stories, I love the Best American Travel Writing series.
I never thought I'd buy a biography of a city. Until Paris had a biography.
Despite my career path, I've never though of science books as particularly fun reading. Until I read Linked. And Genius, a great biography of an incredible man, Richard Feynman. Similarly, issues of health, human rights and the poor are not light fare, but they are critical subjects addressed by Paul Farmer, an authority with the passion and skills to make a change. Go read Pathologies of Power.
 Anthony Bourdain is a heady combination of exotic travel, bad behaviour and the pursuit of culinary adventure.
You may never laugh so hard as when you read David Sedaris and David Rakoff.
Other favourites: Jack Kerouac. Henry Miller. Peter Mayle. James Ellroy. Michael Palin.
|
 I have been traveling as long as I can remember. But a spark went off in my brain, ignited by watching Michael Palin's Full Circle series sometime in the mid-1990's. His documentary-style adventures ignited my desire to hit the road and see the planet for myself. My fate was sealed when in 1996 I read Phillip Greenspun'sTravels With Samantha. The subsequent stories and photographic community that arose from his site was the perfect nexus of what was to come. Now, travel has become like breathing.
Planning for an adventure typically takes me to Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree message boards for the latest word from just about any destination.
 When I get to Europe, I use WhichBudget.com to search the discount carriers for incredible deals on intracontinental airfares. My current record stands at $55 Istanbul-Berlin (5 cents/mile) although $47 for Katowice-Paris (6.2 cents/mile) was another good score.
Do some good: check out The PEPY Ride: "Adventurous Living. Responsible Giving." And a great way to see Cambodia.
|
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
- Ernest Hemmingway, A Moveable Feast
 It's probably not a surprise that the city gets its own special section here. As friends turned to me for suggestions on the sights and practicalities of Paris, I ended up writing two brief guides: Paris: To and From the Airport and Paris: My Favourites.
|
|