CAKELIFE

“Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap

2009-10-27T02:47:04Z

Super into this track featured on the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack from Australia’s The Temper Trap. Feels a little like old U2…

“Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap

They had a nice spot on Jimmy Kimmel too.

The Temper Trap official site

Dudeversity

2009-10-12T20:45:11Z

The Dudes from Calgary teach us all how to party:

The pay-off is in lesson 4.

Christopher Cross and Michael McDonald on Jimmy Fallon

2009-10-07T05:26:28Z

Just beautiful.

Thom Mayne lecture and Q&A at Harvard GSD

2009-10-05T04:14:51Z

Thom Mayne recently gave a great little lecture at the GSD. Preston Scott Cohen moderates and interrogates through an extended question period, which seems to be more the point of the lecture.

You can stream the whole lecture right here.

(In case you’re interested, the GSD has many other webcasts too.

The Art of Meeting Men

2009-10-04T02:40:10Z

All you single ladies out there, just watch and learn:

Asian Cuisine as Diverse as Vancouver

2009-09-27T22:32:58Z

Matt Gross, otherwise known as the Frugal Traveler (“Seeing the world on a budget”), sets his sights on Vancouver’s food scene, specifically Asian cuisine. A good little overview, but of course everyone has something to add. All I’ll say is that Vij’s Rangoli remains my favourite restaurant in Vancouver.

Read it at the NYT: Asian Cuisine as Diverse as Vancouver

How to love

2009-09-21T00:10:38Z

Wikihow tells you how to love.

I’m noticing that the video section is empty.

(Thanks, JP.)

Maru and the box

2009-09-20T05:36:25Z

Keep watching. It’s worth it.

Douglas Coupland’s second home

2009-09-19T18:04:52Z

Rows of dice stacked by the main stair. Credit: Martin Tessler for the New York Times

Douglas Coupland renovated a house (next door to his existing house) and filled it with objects and art. The result is fantastic. (Read about at NYT.) Says Coupland:

A good house with good art will always work, no matter what.

I’m not much of an interior designer, but I’m really into the simplicity of stark white surfaces augmented by occasional splashes of colour. I’ve been putting off painting my apartment for two years now because I’m pretty sure I’ll screw up the colour.

(Thanks, JP.)

High-altitude photography on a budget

2009-09-19T17:40:22Z

Earth. Credit: 1337arts

Three MIT students attached a digital camera to a balloon and let it rise to approximately 28km above the Earth’s surface, whereupon the balloon burst and the camera fell back to Earth under the safe guidance of a parachute and a styrofoam cooler. CBC has a little story.

You can learn all about on the 1337arts website.

I love it.

(Thanks, Alex!)

“Hustler” by Simian Mobile Disco

2009-09-17T05:21:43Z

Simple concept, nice execution. NSFW.

SMD official site

Sicko outtake: Norway

2009-09-09T04:33:54Z

I always find Michael Moore’s edutainment a little dissatisfying. But this clip on Norway is pretty fun…

Who knew?

(via Ze Frank’s Buzzfeed)

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: the Ars Technica review

2009-09-05T16:39:44Z

For something like ten years now, John Siracusa has been following the development and related releases of Mac OS X. One of my favourite post-install activities has been to peruse these long reviews (like, 17+ pages long), which often explain the real under-the-hood technology improvements that get glossed over in the marketing.

The Snow Leopard review, at a staggering 23 pages, doesn’t disappoint. If you’re like me (or Kottke) and you’ve been wondering what that $35, nearly transparent upgrade got you, it’s worth the time.

The Grand Central Dispatch coverage was especially illuminating. Makes me want to program something.

(If you want to search all those previous reviews, they’ve included a handy list on the last page.)

“No Limit” by 2unlimited

2009-09-03T06:21:19Z

Those who know me even a bit know I have a serious soft spot for early ‘90s techno. Thusly, a Dance Mix ‘93 classic, performed on a “glass harp”:

CDEFGABC from lernert Engelberts on Vimeo.

I thought after three pretty dry posts, you could use a break.

(Totally scammed from Chris Jones’s Facebook Links. Always fresh.)

The Developer’s Bait-and-Switch

2009-09-03T05:41:03Z

Christopher Leo, professor of politics at the University of Winnipeg, has a fine little series of posts on “How to Fool City Council and the Public”. Part 2 focuses on the rather despicable behaviour of the Triple Five Corporation (of West Edmonton Mall fame) during their Edmonton Eaton Centre affair.

It’s sad to think this is typical in municipal politics, and that the quality of the urban fabric often suffers because of it.

Mortgage Insurance

2009-09-03T05:29:22Z

Over the past few weeks/months, I’ve been reading about real estate. One thing learned was that, if you buy property and put down less than 25%, you pay mortgage insurance on the full value of the mortgage, at a rate that varies depending on how much you actually put down (from 0 to 25%).

Mortgage insurance, however, does nothing to protect you and does everything to protect the lender. In other words, your mortgage insurance payments lower your risk profile and allow you to take on greater debt (i.e. make a smaller down payment) while adding, say, 0.5-2.9% to the total value of your mortgage. Fascinating. And crappy.

Here’s a piece (from 2005 though) from Canadian Business that spills the beans: “Mortgage Insurance: Homebuyer Beware”

Over the next few weeks, I’ll see if there’s an update to this. Current CMHC mortgage insurance premiums are listed here.

Real estate speculation vs recovering neighbourhoods

2009-09-03T04:54:46Z

A good piece from The American Prospect on the effects bulk real-estate speculators have on neighbourhoods trying to recover from mass foreclosures in the US: “There Goes the Neighbourhood”

DesignReForm: Tutorials for Revit, Rhino, CATIA, etc

2009-09-02T03:10:52Z

DesignReForm is a collection of mostly video tutorials for various architecture-related softwares. It’s run by the guys at CASE, a number of whom used to work for SHoP Architects. I’m also really excited that SHoP has a construction division now.

(Thanks, Sklar!)

“Slip Away” by Get Famous!

2009-08-27T14:40:54Z

Winnipeg is pretty well known for producing good sounds, but this is one of the nicest ones in a while.

Also featured in part 4 of Mike Winters’ captivating Girlfriend series (NSFW).

Get Famous! on MySpace

Lunch with the Financial Times: Jared Diamond

2009-08-27T06:25:04Z

A nice little interview with Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed and Guns, Germs, and Steel.

(via Kottke)