To a brilliant woman in Toronto that I never met…

This is not about one particular woman, rather to that woman who I never had the opportunity to meet, for who fate conspired to keep us apart. As my head starts to wonder more about the details of my impending move to Paris, my heart is increasingly filled with a feeling that I can only approximate as a sort of sadness intertwined with loneliness; generally, I feel like I have failed. In my eight years in Toronto I have failed to meet you, that woman of my dreams. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but I really thought that you were here, somewhere, at some time, in Toronto. I really wish there was some reason to tie myself back to Toronto, some very strong emotional bond to tether me, to keep me flying strong, like a kite. It's not about the city itself, just the potential it had, if I had met you. Perhaps I did come across you, but didn't realise it. Perhaps I shyly looked away, discounting that skipped heartbeat upon gazing upon you as an irrational and very superficial crush; I have always discounted external female beauty, despite my obvious male nature to notice it. It's because I know that you are more than just beautiful, you are radiant, magnetic, angelic, mischievous, intriguing, captivating, strong... Yes, you are wonderful. But I never found you. I missed my chance. Some may say that it's great that I'm free as a bird, but I never wanted to fly alone, I wanted to fly in a pack, a flock of just two.

Art Gallery of Ontario: Transformation rush job

It would seem that despite all the hoopla, the renovations of the AGO are not complete. This weekend was the official re-opening of the art gallery. Judging by today's extremely long and winding lines, zig-zaging along Dundas St. and down McCaul St. (enduring the rain, no less), the free open house was a smashing success. However, it seems that the big transformation is not yet done. As I walked through every level on my visit earlier today, I couldn't help but notice passageways blocked, stairwells closed, exposed exterior insulation, and miscellaneous construction debris near many windows. Though it was the smallest of details that truly got me concerned when I was standing at the balcony perched at the South-West corner of the museum, next to the elevators. Looking up at the ceiling one can clearly see a little piece of wood shimming up the ceiling (see attached photo). I couldn't ascertain if it's the walls that were made uneven, or if it's the ceiling; sadly I didn't have a laser level handy. In the rush to finish the job, one has to wonder what other structural defects were conceded, or perhaps even concealed...

Project Blinkenlights, rewind to 2002 in Paris.

First came Berlin, then in 2002, Project Blinkenlights moved to Paris to put up the "Arcade" installation. I recorded this news report off the high-quality BBC World live video stream (which was freely accessible at the time). It's a little late to be posting this, but interest in Project Blinkenlights has spiked again recently due to the current installation ("Stereoscope") in Toronto.

Electronic symphony composed for Blinkenlights in Toronto

If you were standing outside at Nathan Philips Square an hour ago and was wondering what the cool music was that was playing, here's a link to satisfy your curiosity (and ears!): http://kraftfuttermischwerk.de/stuff/blinkenlights-symphony.mp3 It's an electronic symphony commissioned specifically for this year's Nuit Blanche in Toronto, and the Project Blinkenlights "Stereoscope" installation in particular.

Project Blinkenlights is in Toronto. Tonight!

Some people must be reading this blog after all. Either that, or I'm just psychic. (I'm quite unscientifically discarding the random coincidence hypothesis.) I've been a fan of Project Blinkenlights since I first heard about it a few years ago on a report on BBC World, and about 6 months ago I mused on this blog (here) about how Toronto's financial district could use some high quality live building animations of the calibre that only the German Chaos Computer Club seem to be able to do. Well, just a few minutes ago, when casually perusing the web site of Toronto's Nuit Blanche to figure out what I might what to go out to see tonight (2008 marks Toronto's 3rd Nuit Blanche event), I stumbled on the entry for Stereoscope -- what they are calling Toronto's Project Blinkenlights installation. It's going to be at City Hall, which happens to be a stone's throw from where I live. (It might already be live, as it's gotten dark outside as I am typing this!) To think that I might have missed it, and I live so close...