Jason's

Misguided

Blog: July 2003

Blog:

• July 31: I made it to the concert last night. Details soon.

  
• July 28: The rain could not stop us from enjoying the Beaches International Jazz Festival. The Good: Mark 'Bird' Stafford, and Fathead; large crowds; diversity of music. The Bad: too many bands playing at once drowned each other out. The Ugly: excessive promotion of their cds, especially at $20, was a turnoff.

• July 16: With my cousin as my date, we viewed an IMAX screening of Matrix: Reloaded. I've seen it before, but she hadn't, and arm-twisting wasn't necessary for me to see it again. The higher admission price was worth it just for the cheesy IMAX promo at the beginning. Complete with lasers, spotlights and a booming voice-over, this self-congratulatory commercial had it all. The movie itself was probably more fun to watch a second time, as many of my earlier criticisms vanished - even the rave scene was tolerable.

  In the evening, I met a group of fellow web designers called Webstandards.TO. I spent 3½ hours with five assorted men and women discussing just about everything but the web. It's fun to socialize with someone new, especially over a pint of Keith's. I look forward to our next meeting.

• July 13: Today, we attended the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and were amazed by the scope of exhibits, and the number of people that came to browse under a hot sun. On display were hundreds of artists' works covering pottery, glassware, handicrafts, photography, and more. Following this decades-old event, we walked over to the 2nd Annual Toronto International BBQ and Blues Festival. Definitely not a place for vegetarians (or kosher eaters).

• July 7: On Saturday, we spent the day at the Celebrate Toronto Street Festival. Using a TTC Daypass, we visited four of five intersections, capped by a lively concert from Big Sugar. Other highlights included the animal actors @ St. Clair, and the aerial ballet performance by Strange Fruit @ Eglinton.

  We went to Downsview Park on Canada Day for the fireworks. There was a stage for musicians, amusement park rides, and food vendors. At only a fraction of the number of people expected later this month for the Stones' concert, we still felt overwhelmed by the congestion and amount of garbage made by a few thousand campers. I shudder to think what will happen when an estimated 600,000 descend onto the park.

  Update! Following my comments about last month's Neil Young concert, an eye magazine editorialist writes about the daunting list of restrictions placed on festival-goers and the underlying cause for them.

  The Jays have lost three series in a row, and almost got swept by Baltimore. Let's hope they turn things around this week against their more difficult division rivals, Boston and New York.

Web Design:

• Despite not having a choice among competing soft drinks, York University Library students can at least choose their browser. Will that be Netscape 7 for your textbooks, sir?
• A lengthy, but thoughtful article about the challenges facing independent content producers covers a lot of ground and is worth reading. Another posting, shorter and older than the first, does equally well raising questions about paying for content. Just like the late-night infomercials, there's more! This author also describes a feasible model for smaller sites to cover their expenses without compromising any integrity.
• Finding a permanent web job hasn't been easy, but at least I can take solace knowing there are others facing this dilemma. Making life difficult for struggling designers, are employers writing job descriptions that ask for everything, including the kitchen sink.

Politics:

• The Forgotten War. Remembered by those that fought it, and historians that mark its significance to the tensions of the region today. Forgotten only by careless politicians. Disgraceful.
• I was going to write some long-winded tirade about the dwindling cast of characters seeking the leadership of the federal Liberal party. Instead, I'll wish the best used car salesman that never was, good luck running the country with his banker allies.

Of Interest:

• On Nov. 14, 1999, a teenager was senselessly beaten for a pack of smokes. He later died from his injuries. This happened literally in my backyard. The park borders my house, and often as a kid, I'd ride my bike by the spot where a marker now lies commemorating the death of a young Russian Jew. Today, two of his attackers were convicted of manslaughter.

Projects:

• After months of frustration, I finally found a tutorial to help me reformat a page on my dad's site. Previously, I used javascript to create a rollover effect between the names of Holocaust Survivors and their photos. Now, an efficient CSS is used that degrades passably on older browsers.

  Slowly, but surely, this site will become Table-less. Another step in that direction was taken by reformatting my Pictures to use only styles for layout.

 

Top