Author Archive for duncan

Gillman Auction on Saturday

Published
by
duncan
on May 11, 2007
in Events and Montreal
. 1 Comment

If you’ve spent any time wandering up and down Duluth Street, you’ve probably spotted what you thought was a deserted store with a bright turquoise-green interior, frozen in time. The story is a little more complicated than that.

77 rue Duluth was owned by a certain Mr. Gillman, who was a fixture of the neighbourhood for many, many years. He supplied local businesses with wholesale goods and sundry sweets until a couple of years ago, when his health took a turn for the worse. He recently passed away and now his space is being transformed, but his memory lives on.

The new owner, Binky Holleran, will install the second incarnation of her Fuschia café in the space, but not before celebrating it with artistic interventions and a documentary about P. Gillman’s life (if you knew Mr. Gillman and have some memories to share, she invites you to drop by Fuschia Wednesday to Saturday between noon and seven, or drop a note in the mail slot). To help raise funds for this heritage do-gooding, Binky is hosting an auction of the curios left behind, such as the beautifully-package vintage Noxema product pictured below.

A couple of weeks ago, Montreal artist Sarah Wendt performed a contemporary dance piece/living installation of sorts to celebrate the space. After her final performance, there was a fund-raising event with music, of which I snapped a few photos (with my ISO-challenged camera). Click on the pics below for the respective photo sets. Il y a aussi un super compte-rendu écrit de la soirée, et de l’histoire derrière tout ça, ici.

What I’ve been up to

Published
by
duncan
on April 23, 2007
in Navel-Gazing, Travel and Work
. 0 Comments

For those who are wondering if I’m still in the land of the living, this entry is for you.

There’s been a lot going on lately, and my blogging appears to have suffered for it. It’s all been good, of course. Let’s see, where do I begin?

I’ve spent a lot of time so far this year out West, mostly in and around San Francisco. What started off as an unlimited flight pass for a couple of months has turned into a life-changing series of events. The first leg of my pass took me to San Francisco for a visit to Macworld, motivated purely by curiosity. Neither the tech-heads I met there nor the ever-humourless US customs and immigration officers were buying any of it: they all thought I was down there looking for work. (Ha! Truth is, I’ve had more work that I can handle lately and I really love Montreal.) While in California, I agreed to collaborate on an early-stage startup project based there. I had heard that there was a tech startup conference happening a couple of weeks later in Quebec City, so I went to check it out.

At the conference in Quebec City, I discovered after looking through the bios of attendees that one of my clients, François Lane from Mastodonte Communications, was also there. Since we had never met in person, I sat down beside him at lunch and introduced myself. One thing led to another, and a few days later we were meeting in Montreal to discuss how we could work more closely together. Since then, I have been actively collaborating with François on a weekly basis. A long-time entrepreneur in the Quebec market, he has recently decided to go international–where English, for better or worse, is often the common language. The first fruit of that effort is a white label email marketing application that we have christened Cake. François is sponsoring the One Degree website this month, so we’ve got a little teaser campaign going.

But life is not all work and no play. Oh, no–far from it! I spent Easter doing the tourist thing in San Francisco with a couple other Montrealers who’ve been bit by the wanderlust bug. It was my third time in the Bay Area in as many months, but this was the first occasion I had to really do any sightseeing. I’ve been to BC a couple of times so far this year too, spending time in Vancouver with friends, in Nelson visiting my folks, and in Victoria visting my sister, nieces, nephew, and a couple old friends from high school. I also tagged along with the Mutek crew to their gig in Washington, DC in February, which was great fun and a truly amazing evening of stellar performances. I stayed with a friend I had met at the Mutek festival a few years back, as a matter of fact.

So given that all of this has been going on in addition to my usual freelance workload, you will pardon me if I have been slow to return emails, phone messages and the like. There doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day…

Perfection is imperfection

Published
by
duncan
on March 18, 2007
in Quotable
. 1 Comment

[…] a certain type of perfection can only be realized through a limitless accumulation of the imperfect. - Oshima in Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore

Richard Branson puts his life in my friend’s hands

Published
by
duncan
on March 17, 2007
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

A few days ago, my friend Tom Comet from Circus Orange produced a stunt for Virgin Mobile that saw Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire owner of Virgin, suspended in a prison cell 50 feet above Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto. They exploded the cell, opening the walls, and Branson climbed down successfully making his “escape.”

What’s all the fuss about? Well, in case you hadn’t heard, Canada is now only the second country in the world to feature full phone number portability. Which means that you can switch wireless companies, turn your home number into a wireless number or your wireless number into a landline. All of which should reduce prices and put features and innovation on the rise… I’m hoping that finally I will be able to get a true unlimited data service from a wireless provider that won’t cost a small fortune.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

More photos here.

Cognitive overload is like not enough RAM

Published
by
duncan
on March 15, 2007
in Quotable
. 0 Comments

The mechanics of cognitive overload are similar to the problem of insufficient RAM. - John Lorinc in The Walrus

march 23 mars

Published
by
duncan
on March 14, 2007
in Electronic Music, En français, Events and Montreal
. 15 Comments

[Français ci-bas]

On March 23rd, I’ll be celebrating my 35th birthday. Since it’s a big one in my books and 2007 is shaping up to be a milestone year for me, I decided to do something special. So… I reserved the SAT for a party with friends, clients, acquaintances and readers of my blog! RSVP with your full name and the number of people coming with you (your friends are my friends!) by leaving a comment below or via email. Hope to see you there!

Here’s the deets:

Friday, March 23 from 9 pm - 3 am
@ The SAT, 1195 Blvd St-Laurent
$10 cover includes a drink

DJs
21:00 - 23:00 Slim Jim (Laïka)
23:00 - 01:00 Ernesto Ferreyra (Mutek)
01:00 - 03:00 Baya (Archipel) & Olivié

VJs (on six screens!)
Clandestine (Bureau officiel / Mutek)
Cinétik (Epsilonlab)

In the meantime, you can download a mix from Baya here.

- + - + - + -

Ce 23 mars, je fête mes 35 ans. Comme c’est un chiffre qui me semble important et que cette année s’annonce comme une année marquante pour moi, j’ai décidé d’en faire un événement. Bref, j’ai réservé la SAT pour une soirée en compagnie d’ami(e)s, client(e)s, connaissances et lecteurs et lectrices de mon blogue ! RSVP en laissant vos noms complets et le nombre de personnes qui vous accompagne [vos ami(e)s sont mes ami(e)s !], soit en laissant un commentaire ci-bas, soit par courriel. En espérant vous y voir !

Voici les détails :

Vendredi 23 mars de 21h à 03h
@ La SAT, 1195 Blvd St-Laurent
L’entrée de 10 $ inclut un verre

DJs
21:00 - 23:00 Slim Jim (Laïka)
23:00 - 01:00 Ernesto (Mutek)
01:00 - 03:00 Baya (Archipel) & Olivié

VJs (sur six écrans !)
Clandestine (Bureau officiel / Mutek)
Cinétik (Epsilonlab)

En attendant la soirée, vous pouvez télécharger un mix de Baya ici.

On a collision course with the Big One?

Published
by
duncan
on February 3, 2007
in British Columbia, Gloom and Travel
. 1 Comment

Hello from Terminal 1 at Pearson airport in Toronto. I’m heading west to BC. First stop, Nelson.

I was somewhat alarmed to read on the front page of the Globe and Mail this a.m. that there is a distinct risk of a major earthquake near Victoria in the next week. We’re talking 9 on the Richter scale… The timing did not surprise me: I have a knack for picking destinations at unusually unfavorable times. I was en route to NYC on September 11, 2001. The day I arrived in London in July 2005, the entire city was shut down because of a second (failed, thankfully) terrorist bombing attempt.

For the sake of my many friends and family in BC’s Lower Mainland, I trust that the Earth will remain calm. On the other hand, we all know that the Big One is coming. It’s just a question of when…

Start me up

Published
by
duncan
on January 25, 2007
in Geekery and Work
. 5 Comments

I’m attending a tech startup conference in Quebec City Friday and Saturday this week. The event is presented in partnership with the new Canadian affiliate of Garage Technology Ventures, whose managing director, Guy Kawasaki, will be making a presentation. His book, The Art of the Start, was one of the more important things I read in the last couple of years, in terms of thought-provoking advice to would-be entrepreneurs and “anyone starting anything.”

Seeing Kawasaki in person, however interesting it may be, is not my sole motivation for attending however. When I was in Silicon Valley earlier this month, I was approached by a group of engineers and technologists. I agreed to collaborate with them on a very exciting venture about which I will have to be vague for the time being. My responsibility is brand development. So here I am, hoping to learn from the presentations and make some connections that will be useful later on down the road…

NOTE: You can download the first chapter of the Art of the Start for free here.

Time to travel

Published
by
duncan
on January 23, 2007
in Travel
. 1 Comment

2007 seems destined to be a year of travel. Don’t get me wrong: I love Montreal. But I always seems to appreciate a place more when I give myself the opportunity to miss it a little.

I was already planning on heading west to see family and friends in British Columbia (where I grew up) and Seattle. So when Air Canada announced a 2-month unlimited travel flight pass in North America, I needed little convincing. I was a somewhat skeptical at first, but seat availability has not been a problem.

First stop: San Francisco and area for a week earlier this month. More on that later.

The year that began with a bang

Published
by
duncan
on January 14, 2007
in Navel-Gazing
. 4 Comments

Hey folks, I hope the new year is treating you well so far. I can’t complain, but it’s been quite a wild ride so far, and we’re only two weeks into it… For me, 2007 is the year that started with a bang.

If you’re thinking champagne corks, you’re only partly right. I did enjoy a little Veuve Clicquot on the 31st after a very tasty dinner at Luce’s place. Then I headed across town to a private loft party put on by some friends. Round about 3, some of us decided to head to another party where Eloi Brunelle, Pheek and Mossa were playing. Failing to find a taxi, we came back to the loft. That’s when things got weird.

Seems that, hearing the music from the street, some random people had infiltrated the party. One of those people thought I was picking a fight with a friend of mine (which is laughable for anyone who knows me) but we were just horsing around. Anyhow, this guy shoved me violently, I went flying back and landed on a concrete floor, on which I seriously banged the back of my head. I didn’t pass out, so no-one thought anything more of it, but the rest of the evening is a confused blur. The next day, it was confirmed that I had a concussion. In some ways, having a concussion is like temporary madness. Symptoms include erratic and aggressive behaviour, anxiety, confusion, slurred speech, etc. So that would explain things if you saw me that night and thought I was acting weird or super-drunk.

But things get stranger still. I suppose the guy could have killed me perhaps, but he just may have saved my life — 20 years from now. After I developed increasingly intense migraines 36 hours following the incident, I was admitted to the hospital and had my head scanned (CT) the following morning. Fortunately, they found nothing serious. But they did find something else that is “benign” now but could, if left undetected, cause me problems 20 years from now. Maybe, maybe not. But now that I know about it, it’s much less of an issue — and maybe not an issue at all. So I am strangely grateful to the guy who pushed me, whoever he is.

All of which goes to show you that there is a reason for everything; we just have to understand what it is. This year, I hope we all learn to spot the silver lining in any clouds that come our way.