Nations: Imagined Communities (Problems of the Canadian Beaver)

Duke Redbird: Contesting the Canadian Beaver from Thomas Zukowski on Vimeo.

Play Day! (a collective group that helps bring back play)

Have recess again and enjoy playing.
Join the group if you ever are looking for a basketball game, a street hockey game, a soccer game, or volleyball game, etc. Join and people can arrange play dates where anyone who wants can come play.

The goal is to create a giant database of people looking for a game. So that if you're every dying to play a game of soccer but don't have the contacts, you could then come here and join or post a group discussion for your chosen sport or game.
-First let people know the sport and location.
-2nd once enough people join, someone can set a date and location. Then when enough people confirm, have a play date and just play.

HAVE FACEBOOK? Join the club here

Rethinking the 'mall.'

DIAGON ALLEY IN MISSISSAUGA
Call me crazy, but what if our shopping centers shared a similar ambiance with that of Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter World. I mean, simply comparing the suburban mall with Diagon Alley, I think its easy to say which one you'd rather spend time in or even live in. And when you have people genuinely wanting to live where they work, play, and buy, I think you have a win-win situation.

The suburban mall you see is the infamous 'Square One' Shopping Mall in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. The economic hub of the city, while also quite arguably the biggest eye sore. When thinking of how to retrofit suburbia, you must remember, that at the end of the day it all comes down to dollars and cents. The owner of 'Square One' is an elderly fellow who has repeatedly rejected the idea of tearing down what in my mind is the biggest eye-sore IN THE WORLD. That's right, I'm more of a fan of the Favelas in South America. In fact Diagon Alley holds many similar characteristics with the Brazilian Slums, architecturally speaking. In terms of economics, the land owner somehow feels that the mall's ginormous free parking lot is somehow more profitable than building more buildings, from which can be leased out.

Let's just say for the sake of this article, Mr. Stubborn Land Owner had decided to retrofit the mall area. In this case, what I propose is creating an area that will keep your young population in town. With this in mind, what better than to build what young people all over the world drool over. The magic and ambiance of the Harry Potter World.

Diagon Alley, in mind, is the synthesis of what 'Square One' can be transformed into. I'm not saying tear down the mall yet. But instead, why don't we don't we expand what is already inside the mall, that is the 'fun and frivolous' window shopping, out into the streets under the clear blue sky. In doing so, in addition to the great ambiance of Diagon Alley, this method of expansion can also provide an area of mix use, where people can live and work above the store fronts that we love so much in Europe. What I wonder is why, when so many of the economic centers of the world share 19th century urban characteristics, why do we then continue to build spaces so different. Why didn't we stick with what had worked for so many centuries.

But back to my point, diagon alley has a sort 'growth-like' bacterial characteristic, which gives it the ability to engulf existing spaces and merge and connect them with its web of hidden alleyways and walkways. In addition, with Sheridan college opening up across the street, 'Diagon Alley' can foster student life with pubs, galleries, and bars. A space like Diagon Alley can likewise merge and connect cultural spaces like the Living Arts Center across the street an reactivate and mobilize social life and active citizenship.

Part of this call for such a place, is not just because it would be nice or give me the illusion of living in the Harry Potter World, but rather because it is essential. It is essential to both mobilize social living and active citizenship, but it is also essential in shaping a sustainable and livable city. Also important to note is that OIL won't be here forever. In fact many economist beckon that oil is close to gone. It is important to retrofit our cities and communities for the future, when oil is too expensive or even gone. Because that day will come. It's important to use our 'oil age' petrodollars now before this unprecedented level of wealth is gone.

Now imagine this:


...surrounded by this:
With a leisurely walk and bike path surrounding the city core:
If you're wondering "well what about the parking lots, how will I get there"... might I suggest this:

city web 2.0

city web 2.0 on Prezi

An urban problem. An urban solution

I have a problem. A problem that I think links to urban sprawl. You see, I've moved within that past year, which is a common habit within the current patterns of urbanization. But to get straight to the point. My problem is that my social life has drastically changed. No longer can I knock on my next door neighbor's door and spontaneously start a pick-up soccer game, basketball game, baseball game, etc. Part of this is that my old childhood friends live further away or have become pre-occupied with adult-like responsibilities of work and post-secondary education. But, I feel that this is no excuse to no longer take part in the spontaneous acts of play. Hence, I ask 'how can I revive those spontaneous acts of play?' I understand that it isn't reasonable to expect everyone to be available to your spontaneous beckoning. This is why I propose that the internet can be utilized to mobilize and revive urban social life. More specifically, what I am alluding to is a 'Facebook-like' place where people can self-organize public activities and have the same old fun we had when we were children. Since our closest friends may no longer be readily available for a game of pick-up soccer, I feel that the internet (potentially linked with mobile phones) holds the potential to mobilize larger local groups of people who share same interests and desires of play. What I am calling for is help, ideas, a collaboration, to shape a space, a website, where we can overcome the social fragmentation of urban sprawl, and at the same time meet new people and form new communities. Part of this is a dream to revert back to the local scale of societal living.
PS: I've tried on Facebook, with a group called 'PLAY DAY,' but haven't been able to mobilize any real or concrete social engagement. Hence, I have been dreaming of an independent .COM site, separate from facebook, where non-facebook users could be incorporated.

worried facebook will some how ruin pictures of the present in the future.

the world doesn't need anymore stuff. if anything it needs less.
frame what's already there.

Synecdoche New York

my favourite movie quote:

MINISTER *
Everything is more complicated than *
you think. You only see a tenth of *
what is true. There are a million *
little strings attached to every *
choice you make; you can destroy *
your life every time you choose. *
But maybe you won't know for twenty *
years. And you'll never ever trace *
it to its source. And you only get *
one chance to play it out. Just try *
and figure out your own divorce. *
And they say there is no fate, but *
there is: it's what you create. *
Even though the world goes on for *
eons and eons, you are here for a *
fraction of a fraction of a second. *
Most of your time is spent being *
dead or not yet born. But while *
alive, you wait in vain, wasting *
years, for a phone call or a letter *
or a look from someone or something *
to make it all right. And it never *
comes or it seems to but doesn't *
really. And so you spend your time *
in vague regret or vaguer hope for *
something good to come along. *
Something to make you feel *
connected, to make you feel whole, *
to make you feel loved.
And the truth is I'm so angry and *
the truth is I'm so fucking sad, *
and the truth is I've been so *
fucking hurt for so fucking long *
and for just as long have been *
pretending I'm ok, just to get *
along, just for, I don't know why, *
maybe because no one wants to hear *
about my misery, because they have *
their own, and their own is too *
overwhelming to allow them to *
listen to or care about mine. *
Well, fuck everybody. *
Amen.

Lecture: Implications of Canada as Beaver

Duke Redbird talks about the problems of Canada's totem being a beaver. He also argues that a nation's consciousness can be illustrated by it's totem. Hence, he ultimately highlights the power of the totem in shaping a nation.

Duke Redbird: Contesting the Canadian Beaver from tomzuker on Vimeo.

Facebooking or Vaguebooking? NATIONAL POST

When you blitz your social network with a purposely vague news flash on your life, you’re begging for attention

“What’s on your mind?”

It’s the question Facebook asks millions of people every day. And it’s a question that many choose to answer with obscurity.

Steve is wondering if it’s all worth it … Rebecca shouldn’t have done that.

This kind of indeterminate status updating hardly answers the Facebook question. If anything, it elicits more questions in return.

Enter vaguebooking: the act of posting an unclear status that prompts, even dares, friends to ask you more. The term was originally coined on UrbanDictionary.com — an online collection of slang terminology created by the people, for the people — and gained attention when it was featured as the site’s word of the day earlier this month.

Vaguebooking’s core concept lies within the status writer’s ability to bait its readers while still remaining elusive. It is always confessional, provocative and indeterminably sly. Bob was wrong to do that. Jane should have handled that better. These phrases are consistently open-ended but hint at something more just below their surface. For example, Stephanie

is late … and worried could simply mean that Stephanie is late for school or work. If accompanied by inside knowledge about Stephanie’s sex life, though, it could imply something much more pressing.

Specificity is forbidden in vaguebooking, and one certain rule is never mentioning anyone by name. However, the use of Vaguebooking to message other (often unwilling) parties is common practice, whether the person is directly mentioned or not. Therefore the posting Liz shouldn’t have slept over last night holds special meaning to someone out there, while the rest of us get to indulge in asking questions about where Liz slept (or who she slept with) last night. Occasionally Vaguebookers will also mention a person in terms of their role, often as a cowardly way of confronting them. Trudy wishes her boss hadn’t done that. Steve isn’t sure about his wife.

In its simplest form, vaguebooking can be used to celebrate, Jen just got some great news; to grieve, Jen will miss her; or to bitch, Jen hates this. Sure, Jen could have just told us her big news, or who it is she will miss or what it is that she hates but then, that’s the whole point to Vaguebooking: Why just tell people when you can get them to guess?

Upon reading these statuses, we can’t help but ask, “What’s the great news, Jen?” or “What are you late for, Stephanie?” They compel our curiosity and appeal to our desire for drama.

Facebook has created the ideal platform for our ego — that little (or in some people, big) part of our psyche that is immersed in self-importance. In the social networking realm, our audience, those handpicked people — whether it’s your ex, your high school crush or your mom — are always ready to read whatever it is you have to say. With vaguebooking, it’s easy to create suspense. Martin isn’t

sure if he should tell you. And just like that, within the span of a short unclear phrase, a regular event becomes mysterious and fully exposed people become enigmas.

However, all ego-stroking aside, there must be a larger reason behind all this ambiguity. With virtual soapboxes at our disposal every second, why then are we purposefully failing to communicate?

In its extended definition, vaguebooking can also be used as “a cry for help.” Statements like Ann just

doesn’t know anymore or Brian is

wondering if it’s all worth it could easily be interpreted as depressive projecting at its very saddest. So why post it online then? Perhaps technology has created a protective veil, allowing us to engage in emotions we otherwise wouldn’t have without our third-person (Steve, Jen, Stephanie, instead of me, myself and I) anonymity. Could it be that vaguebooking allows us to reach out in a safe way? For example, through the use of song lyrics: Ciaran … lonely, lonely, that is me. Kim Why are you lonely? Ciaran It’s a lyric from Feist. I’m

fine!

In this case lyrics further protect the writer from vulnerability because even though the lyric obviously means something to them, they can quickly change their tune if anyone out-and-out asks them about it.

Then again, maybe vaguebooking is much simpler then all of this. Perhaps, in this online world where everyone has an immediate voice, a problem has arisen: No one is listening. As a result, people have started to yearn for the dialogue lacking in our one-way communication culture. Maybe people aren’t vaguebooking for attention, but are simply doing it to elicit a response. Maybe Facebook, Twitter and all the other social sites have in fact painted us into a lonely corner and this is the social butterfly’s way of inducing good old-fashioned conversation in a new world format.

Or maybe we’re just a bunch of egomaniacs.

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