Links a la Lofty

No diatribes today, just Lofty’s latest and greatest gleanings from the internets.

The environment will be making big news over the next few days as Montreal hosts the UN Convention on Climate Change Conference. Did you know that we are the 8^th worst Greenhouse Gas polluter in the world and the 2^nd worst per capita –next in line only to the United States? Rick Mercer’s One Tonne Challenge doesn’t seem to be doing its job.

Lofty’s vote for coolest campaign of the week: environmental awareness through hockey. The premise: because of climate change we have seen a marked decrease in the days during which Canadians can play outdoor hockey. On December 1^st around the country outdoor hockey games are being held on ice and asphalt in order to raise awareness about climate change. Though this all suggests that the best way to grab Canadians’ attention is by appealing to the inner Hoser within each of us, Lofty thinks it’s not a bad angle. What’s the next campaign – melting polar ice caps threaten to water down Canadian beer?

In a strange New York/Canadian crossover, this Toronto Subway station has been made over to look be the spitting image of a New York station at a cost of $150,000 (fake NYC soot and sludge don’t come cheap). Apparently, Toronto considered leaving it that way.

The intellectuals out there should check out this interesting research project which maps the amount of money spent by the prison system, by neighborhood in Brooklyn. Unsurprisingly there is a direct correlation between demographics and the level of incarceration showing that “incarceration impacts certain disadvantaged communities much more severely than other communities”.

Note how many “million dollar neighborhoods” there are! Lofty thinks it would be interesting to see this mapping done in Canada with urban aboriginal communities.

And finally, if you haven’t wasted hours playing with this yet: The Baby Name Voyager, - have fun!

V-USA Day

Lofty to fellow Canadians, come in Canucks. Red Alert. Looks like the Americans are hip to our plans: Reasons to Fear Canada.

Gobble Gobble

The Macy’s parade was something else yesterday. Lofty had never experienced it firsthand and boy was he impressed.















Perhaps the true excitement of the parade is the sense of terror one feels when a 50 meter long inflated cartoon is hurtling towards you.
The feeling is similar to being on a rollercoaster; rationally you know it’s probably not going to kill you, but all of the precious instincts handed down from your ancestors are telling you to get the hell out of there. Turns out that a young lady in a wheelchair and her younger sister should have listened to those instincts as the M&M’s balloon knocked a streetlamp down on them. It was a balloon depicting M&M’s trying to hold onto a haywire balloon: Lofty can’t help but think: How Meta.











Today was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when all craziness ensues in the mad consumer frenzy officially opening the Christmas shopping season. Rumor has it 'Black Friday' is so called because it’s the first day of the year that retailer’s books are out of the red and into the black. Lofty was on the scene to witness approximately one gazillion shoppers and tourists hitting the midtown retail district.





This lineup for the empire state building stretched a block and a half – almost all the way to Macy’s which Lofty guesses is the desired effect of the whole parade.

On another gobble gobble related note, as usual during post turkey dinner conversation, Lofty was asked some questions about Tryptophan. Wikipedia, that open-source font of all that is good and brainy, came to the rescue yet again. Turns out that Tryptophan is found in all sorts of foods: milk, cottage cheese, peanuts, bananas, and more. The common argument that it’s the Tryptophan which makes you sleepy after eating your thanksgiving dinner (rather than the 3/4 bottle of merlot your drank) doesn’t really hold water since, according to Wikipedia, turkey and beef have about the same amount of Tryptophan.

Fun with Fonts

Font fanatics out there will love this New World meets Old World debate: The best ligatures for the ever popular chat abbreviations 'LOL' (laughing out loud) and 'WTF' (What the F%#*).












See also one of Lofty's few but favorite font fun facts: When Mordecai Richler died in 2001, a font was commissioned in his honor. Truly a sign of greatness. Looking at the ashtray the teapot and the books, one can't help but ponder which 'dingbats' would sum up your life?

The Pond in Bryant Park

At the risk of spoiling a good thing, Lofty has spoken with a few of his pals who were surprised to hear about this, so he decided to spread the word via the information superhighway: In case you haven’t heard, there is a skating rink in Bryant Park! Yes that’s right Bryant Park. It’s called The Pond, and it’s Free.

Now, before you go getting all gushy, Lofty should mention that when he was there last week the chosen name was unfortunately very appropriate as the rink was covered in 2 inches of water. Nonetheless, the diehards skated away.

It’s a great big set up. They had to take special precautions so that the underground book storage of the New York Public Library wasn’t damaged. You can browse through the market or sip hot cocoa in the ice café. The musical stylings of Frank Sinatra and other romantic seasonal favorites fill the air. Each Wednesday afternoon, there is a session sponsored by the Rangers where you can get Rangers swag and even meet a player. For the lonelier of Lofty’s readers, the promoters promise a Singles Skate. For the parents-wanting-their-kids-to-just-have-some-good-clean-fun-darnit crowd there is a (cough) “Fifties Sock Hop” and a “Hip Hop Jam”. Put away the Mary-Jane kids: let’s have some fun.

That said, the rink is way bigger and quieter than its Rockefeller Centre counterpart, it’s surrounded by trees and all told it’s a really cool place to get your skate on. All you pay is $7.50 for skate rental: a bargain compared to the Rock with it's $13 admission plus $7 rental. You can go just to watch too. Some local show-offs are always on hand, reliving their glory days as semi-pro figure skaters. For a fee they’ll teach you too how to skate like Tonya Harding.

To Lofty’s mind, Bryant Park is a loafer’s dream and one of the greatest places in the city year round – the reading room, wifi all through the park, coffee kiosks and chairs to sit in and watch the productive people walk by – who could ask for more.

Lofty’s keen ex-pat eye noticed that the Pond is sponsored by the Government of Canada. Lofty thought it strange that - while Canadians endlessly kvetch about (or is it ‘aboot’?) Americans stereotyping Canada as a cold tundra hinterland full of igloos, dogsleds, and frozen Mounties - the Government still plays to this stereotype by linking us with sub-thermal activities in the interest of good will and tourism. Lofty surmises they are simply following a cardinal rule of marketing– don’t fight preconceptions, work with them. Maybe all Canada wants to do is remind the Yanks that there’s another country on the same continent - Any press is good press, Eh?

The rink is open weekdays 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m., and weekends 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Hustle up before the holidays because it closes Jan. 16 to prep for the invasion of the skinny and fabulous for fashion week. Click here for calendar of events.

Chip Kidd at the Cooper Union

Since the release of his book The Cheese Monkeys was eclipsed by its unfortunate release date – September 10, 2001 – perhaps graphic art superstar Chip Kidd thought it fitting to release his new exhibition and book: CHIP KIDD: BOOK ONE, the night before the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Nonetheless, hundreds of people jammed into this small exhibition at the Cooper Union last night for its opening reception. Lofty was on the scene.

At first, Lofty had a hard time figuring out what this show was about. An art exhibition? A history of the book cover? The pages of Chip Kidd’s new book ripped out and pasted on the wall? It turned out to be the latter. . . but in a good way.

The subtitle Of Kidd’s new book is “Twenty Years of Books, Sketches, Ideas, Etc. The Cooper Union exhibition mirrors this – Kidd has laid out an array of icons, drafts covered in post-it notes, original book jackets, comic books and lots of ‘etc’.

In part, both the book and the show are attempts to inform the audience that graphic artists actually do something. This continues a theme of Kidd’s wonderfully enjoyable novel The Cheese Monkeys where the reader and protagonist come to appreciate the brilliance and general stick-to-itivness of the people who fret over the designed objects which Joe Public takes for granted on a daily basis.

Like most art, graphic design becomes more interesting as you are led through the process. Kidd skillfully illuminates the multiple layers of thought, talent, creativity and care that go into the production of a comic, an ad, or a book cover. At the same time Kidd relishes in kitch and “introduces pop punk art into the vernacular”. The Exhibition is fun, beautiful and informative.

The section on Kidd’s meteoric rise to fame as a book cover designer at Knopf was Lofty’s fave. To be invited to design the cover of a book must be an awesome power to wield. A great book cover can make impressions that inextricably color a reader’s conception of a book (judging books by their covers may be a sin, but is a human tendency on which publishers must rely). In his early covers, Kidd used bold and jarring images, sure to grab the consumer’s attention. An author states “Do they tell you anything about the novel? Not Much. But who cares? I love them.”

If you are poor, leave your wallet at home; this exhibition made Lofty want to buy the book. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get an expense account. At $40, Lofty will put this on his Xmas list.

CHIP KIDD: BOOK ONE, twenty years of books sketches, ideas, etc. From 1986-2006 runs at the Cooper Union until February 4, 2006, FREE.

holiday suits

Here's some smart invective pointing out that Starbucks considers itself more than the birth of Christ and Santa put together. My bigger beef is with Starbuck's blatant rip off of the style of Edward Gorey.

Tell me if you see the similarities too:














































Starbucks is notoriously protective of their patents. If you thought that the Haida Bucks fiasco was over the top, check this out: Starbucks trademarks ‘christmas blend’ with a small ‘c’ and a small ‘b’ .

You cant even trick their cunning lawyers by using other languages – ‘Xingbake’ is the Chinese name for 'Starbucks' so they busted up that party.

So, fair enough; Starbucks runs around the country complaining to judges and the public that it is just darn unfair that others should profit from association with their brand, and that similar names like ‘christmas blend’ destroy their hard earned reputation by diluting their name. In fairness then, shouldn’t they be banned from doing the same to an artist like Edward Gorey?

1. See also: Anything else you may want to know about starbucks here.

2. See also: This fantastic starbucks’ press release: without an iota of self-conciousness it describes how lovely it is that Starbucks follows some somewhat tainted historic traditions in order to create its christmas blend:

"This is the coffee our customers wait all year for," says Dub Hay, Starbucks senior vice president, Coffee. "But if not for coffee's colorful history, we may never have had something like Christmas Blend."

A little eggnog with your thanksgiving dinner?

Tonight was the first night i saw the Xmas decorations on the street lit. Is it just me or is christmas foisted upon us far too early every year?

Maybe other people are ready for eggnog lattes jingling bells and whatnot, but I think that the whole thing just loses the drama after a month or so. You would never build suspense in a show or political/advertising campaigns this far ahead for fear of risking a let down.





I suppose that's precisely the point: retailers don't care if you are let down because you've already paid up front, and hey, the more let down you are the harder you will buy next year in order to make it better. We can't stop the advertisers but why do we let the city put us in Christmas gear so early?

Crazy skates

As I sit for hours on end in the impossibly fridgid starbucks at Astor Place, i watch the skateboarders and dream of what the kids these days call 'big air'. These skates are pretty crazy looking. I think they just made the Xmas top -15.

That being said, I, a relatively fit and agile young man, am still paying the price for rejecting the basic rule of physics as told by my girlfriend, that though one lay claims to being young at heart, no one, over the age of 25 may sucessfully learn to skateboard.

The main problem with learning to skateboard, is that you don't seriously injure yourself immediately. This allows you time to tell everyone you know how cool it is that you are reclaiming your youth, thus making the fall all the greater when you have to pretend you don't hear all your colleagues snickering and tut-tutting at the road rash running the length of your face.

I guess it's just wiser to let the kids in Astor Place dazzle me with their hair-raising car-dodging maneuvers. They are pretty briliant. Heck, I'm used to living vicariously and I'm happy not to compare myself to any person brave enough to ride on tiny little wheels on NYC'c potholed streets.

On the subject of Astor Place, the blogs are all astir with talk of the giant cube which is set to return to Astor Place tomorrow, following the completion of construction of the Sculpture for a living building (which personally i think is pretty hot). I look forward to meeting said cube personally.


See also: the great transformation of the cube.

time changes people

Ah, the last Sunday of October, the day North America willingly plunges itself into darkness. We trade one extra hour of sleep (a real treat if you are drinking in a Montreal bar at 5am) for a winter of leaving work in the pitch black. So why do we bother?

First off, we are not making the day shorter but rather returning to 'standard time'. This is the time that was the norm pre-1916 when the Germans first adopted the notion of 'daylight saving time' and it snowballed its way through Britain to North America. Ponder the notion of standard time long enough and an implosion in your frontal lobe will likely coincide with the epiphany that it is really all somewhat arbitrary. I mean really: an international date line?

The US of A has decided to extend daylight savings by 4 weeks in 2007. Ontario, has decided to become the Federal equivalent of Lloydminster. Apparently the town of Lloydminster, which straddles the Alberta - Saskatchewan border, decided that it would follow Alberta and become an oasis of light in one-hour-darkened Saskatchewan. Ontario, since at least psychologically Toronto straddles the border between us and our more sophisticated neighbors to the south, decided that it would follow the American lead and grant its denizens the 4 extra weeks of light. The clocks will spring forward 3 weeks earlier and fall back one week later. It is an open question as to whether the rest of Canada will follow suit. I propose a test referendum in Québec.

Twice a year, Michael Downing does a spree of interviews about the book he has written "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time". The gist of the book is that daylight saving legislation is encouraged by an evil conglomeration of the barbeque industry, golfers retailers and . . . you guessed it . . . big oil. The argument goes that when that extra time is moved to the useful hours at the end of the day, people tend to barbeque, golf, shop and drive. Though the daylight savings time was introduced in part to save energy, in fact it encourages energy consumption more because people's favorite thing to do with their free time is driving in cars. They drive and shop and isn’t that evil?

Not really the most startling conclusion: after all haven't we already established that big oil behind everything evil. In my book, I can put up with an extra hour to golf, barbeque shop and drive in the warm glow of the sun.

1. *SEE ALSO: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S ESSAY ON DAYLIGHT SAVINGS