Finding Great-Grandpappy

Last Thursday the Library and Archives Canada released the 1911 Census and genealogists couldn't be more pleased. In the Archives' newsletter, our great and glorious National Archivist, Ian Wilson, thanks his "colleagues at Statistics Canada for helping us provide this unique opportunity to view our past," and I can't help but think that he is saying this rather snarkily as the Chief Statistician, Ivan P. Fellegi has come out vocally against the release of the 1905 and 1911 censuses to the Archives citing privacy concerns and legal ambiguities, and refused to hand them over. Dick. The Archives had to go to the Supreme Court to get the 1905 documents that were supposed to come to them by law in 1997 and the 1911 should have been released in 2003. Anyway, with Bill S-18, becoming law on June 28, Censuses from 1911 to 2001 WILL be released after 92 years as they are supposed to.

The original paper records were microfilmed and the originals were destroyed. What a brilliant idea that was: the microfilms are often pretty crap. But from what I have seen so far are more or less legible and at least they can be accessed. The Archives has scanned the microfilm and you can bring up pdfs of the pages. They are arranged by districts (no nominal index available but give genealogists a few months and I am sure they will start popping up) so for now you will need to have a pretty clear idea where your family was at the time the census was taken and patiently search the name column. But, if you know or can figure out the Province-District-Subdistrict they were in you are golden.

For example, if your family happens to be from Ontario, in the District Hastings West, Sub-District Rawdon Township, Springbrook Village you can find them, although not until Page Seven:



It's as easy as that. So get out there and fill in the blanks in your family tree.
rgsc.

Eating, Drinking, and Smoking Across the Globe

Our favourite celebrity chef is at it again. Premiering tonight on the Travel Channel is Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. I am not entirely sure how this will differ from A Cook's Tour as it seems the premise is pretty much identical: Tony Bourdain, chef and writer, travels to interesting and exotic locations (like New Jersey!) to eat, get pissed, and crack-wise. Not that I am complaining as this is certainly a winning combination as far as I am concerned. Should be good viewing - hopefully they play it on Discovery or FoodTV or come out with a book tie-in as I don't get the Travel Channel. So if you happen to get a chance to see it let me know how it is.
rgsc.
PS. Bourdain will also be appearing on tv in fictional form in Fox's Kitchen Confidential beginning on September 18th. The show seems promising - Darren Star is the executive producer, Bourdain himself is a consultant and has said that the pilot is "pretty good" (not a ringing endorsement, I know, but at least he is still willing to be associated with the project) and it is following Arrested Development which is a pretty great timeslot to have. However, it is Fox, the people who bring us the horror that is Stacked and who have a tendency to cancel good shows.

Quote of the Day

This installement of Quote of the Day comes to up from Leah McLaren of The Globe and Mail" who wrote:

"Chit-chatting with optimists makes me throw up in my mouth."

Snerk.
As irritating and self-important as many people find McLaren and her writing, I must say that I can't help but like it.

That's it for now. Went to Ottawa yesterday and I will post on my visit to the National Gallery sometime later in the weekend.
rgsc.

Kodak and the Digital - Two Bits of News

One:
Yesterday it was announced that George Eastman House and the International Center of Photography have entered into a partnership to form PhotoMuse, a free, online resource for the History of Photography drawing on the collections of these two magnificent institutions. They plan to have 200,000 images, both American and international, online once officially opened in September 2006. Currently there are 250 images from each institutions (although there are apparently 806 images from the photographer Roman Vishniac...so who knows how many photos are currently online) which, once clicked on, bring up details about the image, links to bibliographies on the photographer, links to chronologies (including info on developments in photography, culture and politics), and a space for user comments (which could be a wonderful space for input and a model I would like to see repeated in the archival sphere). This has the potential to be a fantastic resource for the study of photography.


Alfred Eisenstaedt, Detail of ‘Children Watching the Story of "Saint George and the Dragon" at the Puppet Theater in the Tuileries, Paris,’ 1963, ICP Collection. Online at PhotoMuse

Two:
Today, Eastman Kodak announced that it was cutting 10,000 jobs, mostly in their manufacturing plants. This is in addition to the cuts made a year and a half ago which eradicated 15,000 positions. Last year’s profits in the range of $136 million have been replaced by losses of $146 million. The film business is very far from booming and sales of Kodak’s digital products have surpassed its traditional products for the first time. The outlook is not completely bleak, however, as the company has become the largest manufacturer of digital cameras in the US and is very much restructuring itself and focussing all its attention on digital imaging technologies. What this all means is not entirely clear yet as the use of digital photography is too new to have been comprehensively studied (although scholars have been dealing with the subject since the late 1980s and early 1990s). I wonder if this is the potential end of the democracy of imaging that was witnessed with traditional film based photography. Currently, while digital cameras are becoming ever popular not everyone is willing or able to purchase a new camera and all the accoutrements that go with it to allow for the printing of images. While disposable digital cameras have been around since 2003 (although I am not entirely sure how popular and widespread their use has been) and self-serve printing kiosks popping up all over the place, will the "average person" be able to have same ability to take and print their own photographs in a completely digital environment as they are used to? On the other side of the coin, could this lead to an expansion of imaging? As more parties become involved in the production of digital imaging technologies and cameras get cheaper, smaller, and more sophisticated, could there be a boom in the taking and production of photographs? Only time will tell.
rgsc.

c.c in kgstn - "You need to pay attention"

Last night Kingston got its groove on as the wickedly funky controller.controller graced the stage of the Elixir. The show was hosted by Rockcrew Productions who are pretty much single-handedly responsible for bringing good music to Kingston. It was their third anniversary so to celebrate they gave away free cds from bands that they have brought to town. I got an ep from Everlea and a guy left his beside me on the bar so I also picked up a disk by The July 26th Movement who I never heard of before but seem pretty good (now apparently known as The Coast). These wouldn't have been my first choices but hey, who can argue with free?

The show started with Kingston's own The Roamers. While this name brings to mind a East Coast kitchen band in my mind it is actually a pretty good four-piece rock outfit. The guys are really young and sort of need to break away and find their own sound they are very good technically and know what they are doing. They sound like alot of indie/alt-rock bands but the most direct comparison I could make is with Dinosaur Jr. - and that is a pretty awesome band to be compared to. One of their songs had an alt-country feel to it and was one of their best. Certainly a band to watch out for.

Up next was Camouflage Nights - based out of Toronto but originally from Halifax. While my initial impression was "pretty good although not really my thing" by the end of their set I was hooked. It have a very Cake-like feel with rap-y style vocals. They are not big on complex lyrics but rather take the approach of looping and repeating phrases or verses while the music does the same, moving to a climax of funkiness. The band is comprised of six members, with a bunch of instrument swapping and each takes turns at the vocals although two of the guys do most of the singing. They have two organs/keyboards/synthesizers which are used to great effect. The band is really really tight and put on an excellent show. They don't have an album out yet but there is a 12" single and an mp3 for your listening pleasure on their site.

The headliners, controller.controller, were nothing short of awesome. There wasn't a single person in the place that was standing still - their disco-inflected post-punk ditties refused to let you rest - they screamed "YOU MUST DANCE!" so that is what we did. This band has gotten some crazy-good press: Time Magazine announced that their forthcoming album (due out Octoberish) is one of the most anticipated indie albums of the year; Pitchfork gave it an 8.3 (out of 10) - a pretty exceptional rating - and had nothing but really positive things to say about the whole thing. They played all the songs off of their super-funky EP History (do yourself a favour and get this cd immediately if not sooner) and played a bunch of stuff off their forthcoming album. It was an absolutely fantastic set, which led to the audience calling for an encore. Much to our delight the lead singer, Nirmala Basnayake, came out picked up the mic but instead of singing she proceeded to sit on the stage in the dark and explained that they would love to come back out and do another song but the police came and informed the club that they were violating noise laws and had to shut it down (it was before last call! What the hell?!?) She was extremely apologetic and we thought that was going to be it until guitarist Scott Kaija came out plugged in his guitar and started playing again very loudly. Basnayake just shrugged, said that it was a "fuck the law moment" and the rest of the band came out and they played a scorching encore. Which was? Awesome. They are on a mini-tour right now and are in Toronto on the 20th and I can't recommend going to see them highly enough.

After the show I hung out and had a beer with the other guitarist Colwyn Llewellyn-Thomas who I went to highschool with. We hadn't seen each other since 1997 and it was really great to catch up with him and hear what he has been up to.

It was all in all a great concert. The place wasn't really packed and the A/C was still effective so it was pretty cool in there and people weren't tramping on each other while getting their groove on on the dance floor. I was pretty wiped out today but it was totally worth it.

The next event in Kingston that will be chock-full of indierock goodness is the Wolfe Island Musicfest featuring Jill Barber, Luther Wright, Sarah Harmer, Apostle of Hustle, Cuff the Duke, Chris Brown Citizen's Band (f. Kate Fenner), Matthew Barber and the Union Dues, Tomate Potate and others so mark your calendars for August 5th and 6th. It is going to be great.
rgsc

Big Brother is Watching - and you can control his gaze

Surveillance cameras are becoming an ever growing part of the urban landscape. They watch over public spaces and, working on the theory of the Panopticon (that if we believe we are always being watched by the authorities we will regulate our behavior) they are hopefully keeping our streets safer and giving the authorities the power to catch the badguys once they do wrong. Questions about whether or not this is actually the case is still up in the air. Questions regarding the impact on our civil liberties should not be passed over lightly. But, the fact remains that we are being watched and the watchers have all the power.

Want to watch? Then enter the Eyes of Laura: Surveillance webcam and street culture blog. There, you can take possession of a surveillance camera in Vancouver, controlling the perspective, angle, zoom, and focus. It is quite amazing to watch people go by down the street (or appear and then disappear on a slow internet connection) wondering if they know they are being observed. You can control the camera for 30 seconds using a default login or 3 minutes if you register.

The blog, which began its life on June 1st, is no ordinary blog - along with strange musings it has video and audio clips of the author, pictures, and a developing story line - in fact this isn't a blog at all. It is an art piece by one of my favorite contemporary artists - and one of the most applauded artists working today - Janet Cardiff, whose spectacular "Paradise Institute" and "Forty-Part Motet" are currently on view at the National Gallery. (For more webcam fun see the view for Louise Bourgeois's giant spider sculpture Maman)

While the website is not as immersive as her other works, it definitely operates along the same lines as it toys with understanding: mixing fact and fiction, sound and sight (and in this case text) as Cardiff leads us down a path to some mysterious destination. Unlike her other works which unfold over a relatively short period of time, this one has been going on for over a month now and shows no sign of slowing.

One thing that is particularly interesting about this site/work of art is that Cardiff has apparently gone to great lengths to hide her authorship and the link to the Vancouver Art Gallery, the sponsoring institution. On neither her nor the gallery's website is there mention or links to the work. Neither name appears on the site (that I have seen) and I only hear about it because on an article in the New York Times which spills the beans. The reason for this, I suppose, is to enforce the fiction but unless you were somehow "in the know" you most likely would never find the work. The author of the Times article never states how he found out about the piece and I am quite curious to find out how he found out given the supposed secrecy of the project.

A very interesting take on surveillance, blogging, modern communication and culture from one of Canada's art superstars.
rgsc.
ps. to run the site and camera you need java, quicktime, and macromedia flash plugins. If you don't have them you can download them via links on the site. A highspeed connection wouldn't hurt either, but isn't necessary.

Night Lights

Since others have got it working I thought I would give the blogger photo thingy another shot. This time it worked - I haven't a clue why it wouldn't go the other day except to think that the blogger imps enjoy toying with me.



So to test it out I thought I would post this image of light use around the world which I think is pretty cool. They showed a similar image in the Massive Change exhibit at the AGO.

That is it. Trying to be productive at work and my lunch is over so back to it. Hope everyone has a great weekend.
rgsc

A slow week

It has been something of a slow week - nothing really to report. Canada Day was spent pretty much in the car with no waving of flags or watching of fireworks but that is just fine by me. Went to see As You Like It in Stratford, which was pretty good. The music, provided by the Barenaked Ladies, was quite excellent and I really enjoyed the set design which used large metal ladders as trees, architectural elements and as, uh, well ladders. The play wasn't "knock your socks off" fantastic but all it all it was enjoyable.

This week, so far (and for the rest of it as far as I can tell) has been taken up by report writing which I have had enough of for the moment but since the boss is away on holidays it is nice to not be interrupted every ten minutes while doing it (I have been trying to get this thing done for ages but things keep popping up so I get a paragraph done then I am called away. Another sentence written then I am off to something else).

Really, the only reason I am posting anything at all right now is because I thought I would give Hello another shot (temperamental beast that it is) and lo and be hold. So here is a gratuitous picture of a cat (tm Selsine, all rights reserved) - Porkchop in my Return of the Jedi bag.


He may be a sorry excuse for a cat, but at least he is not THIS.
rgsc
PS now that I have Hello running again, I see there is an in-blogger image tool (just click on the little photo icon) which looks super easy to use. However, it doesn't want to put my photo up...bastardo!