2011.08.16
Posted in Art, Museums, Galleries, Travel at 5:24 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Monday and Tuesday in Chicago were mostly spent doing Architecture-ish things. Monday after sleeping in I went down to take in one of the river tours offered by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. It was really enjoyable, and a great introduction to the city. The docent definitely knew her stuff. There were such a huge variety of buildings on the tour, and along with the history and some of the background it was really quite fascinating.
The downside of the river tour is that you don’t get to go into any of the buildings (some of them have really interesting interiors) but it does give you a good vantage point and you cover a lot of ground in 90 minutes.
After the tour, I went to Millenium Park for a short while. I didn’t explore the entire park but did check out the Jay Pritzker Pavillion and the Cloud Gate before deciding I had enough sun, and came home.
Today I spent exploring the Magnificent Mile on foot, including a trip to the observation floor in the John Hancock tour. It was interesting to see, although that part of the city had a different feel for me than downtown did. I did pop into the Drake and the Intercontinental Hotels, but parts of both were closed off for private functions so I guess I picked the wrong day.
I also glanced at some of the shops in the area, with pretty much all of the big names represented at some point, and some ultra-high-end brands like Hermes have stores on Oak Street. The only store I really spent any time in was the 5-story Crate and Barrel store on Michigan Avenue.
From there, I walked along the river to the lake, then along the lake, and back over to Millenium Park. I spent a few minutes there literally cooling my heels in the water beside the one walkway (it’s constructed for this purpose, interestingly enough). After being there twice in 2 days, and exploring more of the park, it definitely seems to me that Millenium Park is a great example of what an urban park can / should be. It’s got something for everyone and it’s a fantastic outdoor space.
Just before getting back to the hotel, I popped into a used music/movie/game shop that had a small amount of vinyl, and picked up Treats by Sleigh Bells. That’s probably enough records for this trip, but it’s been fun hunting.
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2011.08.16
Posted in Friends, Music, Travel at 4:25 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
After a mostly uneventful flight to Chicago on Saturday, I’ve been fairly busy sightseeing and catching up with friends.
Saturday was mostly just spent getting settled and getting my bearings. I had a good seared tuna sandwich for supper in Andersonville before heading down to Lakeview. I decided to skip Market Days and do a bit of wandering down Clark and Broadway instead.
Sunday morning I met a friend at the Metra station downtown and we ended up having lunch at a pub whose name I can’t recall. I do remember the veal was really tasty and that I tried a local craft beer of some sort that was also tasty. From there we headed to Lakeview to take in Market Days. My general impression was that it was a larger and somewhat more fun version of the Lilac Festival in Calgary. Lots of people but because the street is reasonably broad, it never felt crowded the way Calgary street festivals always seem to.
It was fun, but only for so long, and afterwards we did a bit of shopping on Broadway and Clark streets. Specifically, I wanted to hit a couple of record stores. I managed to pick up the following:
- Brian Eno / David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (original 1981 release)
- LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening
- And a couple of misc 7″ singles.
We also went out for supper at a Persian restaurant that was every bit as good as Atlas in Calgary, although no saffron ice cream for dessert.
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2011.08.02
Posted in Music, Technology at 11:13 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
I grew up mostly in the digital age of music. I owned a few cassettes as a kid, but never more than a handful, and then I got my first CD player. My first ever CD purchase was U2′s album Zooropa which I acquired sometime around late 1993, and it was all digital from that point forward. Nowadays I own several hundred CDs and also have purchased a reasonable amount of digital downloads via iTunes, Beatport, Puretracks, and some directly from artists like Pretty Lights, Nine Inch Nails, and Bassnectar.
But before the CD, and before the cassette, there was the LP. And it reigned supreme for a very long time before it was supplanted by digital formats. DJs still spin vinyl to this day, even when the source material is digital, thanks to the magic of time-coded vinyl and the software it interfaces with.
Analogue vinyl is beginning to finally show its age, though; production of the venerable Technics SL-1200 turntable was discontinued in 2010. There are still other turntables on the market, but the workhorse turntable DJs have loved for several decades is no longer being manufactured.
For numerous reasons, I recently decided to purchase a turntable. And since the Technics is no more, why not own a piece of history as well? I found a used Technics SL-1200MK5 on Kijiji for a reasonable price, and bought it. In addition to being a beautiful, high-quality turntable, it’s engineered well enough to last me the rest of my life. Based on the serial number, it rolled out of the factory in February 2010, so it’s about as new as possible (the MK5 ended its run in April 2010). I also picked up a new cartridge for it (an Ortofon 2M Blue), although the Shure M44-7 I bought with it is certainly no slouch and may come in handy when I run into vinyl that hasn’t been well-cared-for.
To celebrate, I bought 2 used albums from one of the record stores in my neighbourhood: Fables of the Reconstruction by R.E.M. and Exit Planet Dust by the Chemical Brothers. I had heard both before, but didn’t own either, so figured this was a good time.
I also now have custody of all of my parents’ (mostly my dad’s) old vinyl which is quite exciting. There are definitely a number of gems in the collection, although I’ll be a while even just cataloging the 200+ albums let alone listening to all of them. It’s a fascinating way to learn about your parents; some of the albums I knew were there, and head heard as a child, but there are some I don’t ever remember hearing and yet they’re in there.
This is a new adventure, and in a way it’s a window into the past and my parents’ history, so it’s especially cool. When the weather worsens (and it inevitably will), I’ll have something else to keep me busy.
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2011.07.24
Posted in Music at 9:41 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
It’s probably my own fault for having set my own expectations too high, but seeing Nero live last Saturday at Flames Central was… meh. At least the main act was.
First off, a rant. I paid to see Nero perform, not 1/2 of Nero perform. WTF.
OK, enough of that. When it was all said and done I thought the opening acts all outshone Nero, with the possible exception of Gnarcotics, although I was at least able to dance and enjoy their set without hundreds of sweaty EDM kiddies bashing into me every 30 seconds. I had to flee to the balcony for Nero, and although I enjoyed it more from up there, it still felt like a lacklustre performance.
And to top it all off, I suffered a hat malfunction. I was theoretically debuting the new light blue version of my glowing cowboy hat, which decided to die on me at about 10:30. I can fix the issue, but I spent the rest of the evening with a severe lack of glow. Sigh. The yellow hat is still OK, as is another hat I have yet to wear publicly.
I am getting excited about Chromeo though. It’s at the same venue as Nero was, but I’m hoping the crowd isn’t full of the same people who were at Nero. Ick.
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2011.07.06
Posted in Music, Sasquatch 2011 at 10:03 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Not long after the first discs arrived in the mail from Amazon, the second shipment came as well, bringing the soulful sounds of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Sharon totally rocked my world at Sasquatch, and while the recordings don’t quite capture the live experience, they are nevertheless quite enjoyable.
I picked up 100 Days 100 Nights and I Learned the Hard Way, and I enjoy them both about equally thus far. I don’t really have any other soul music in my collection, but she fits in quite well with any number of jazz divas of yore, so she’s got a permanent spot in the iTunes rotation. It still amazes me that I found so many great artists I’d never really heard before at Sasquatch. I’m already looking forward to Coachella 2012; who knows who I will discover there.
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2011.06.26
Posted in Hiking at 10:24 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
It has been a number of years since I hiked Ribbon Creek, and given the relatively small amount of elevation gain (before the falls, anyway) I figured it was a good “warm up” hike for our brief summer season in Calgary. Up until now, we haven’t had a lot of great weekend weather, so on Saturday I took advantage of a good forecast and set off for Kananaskis Country.
I had forgotten that the trailhead for Ribbon Creek is actually on the road to Kananaskis lodge. The signage is a little lacking and so after a brief tour to the parking lot of Nakiska, Chris and I found the correct trailhead and set off down the trail.
The temperature was great, although a little more sunshine would have been icing on the cake. It started off somewhat sunny but things got progressively cloudier the further we walked.
The first 4km of the trail is open to bikes and we saw a few cyclists, although the hikers outnumbered them by quite a bit. After the first 4km, the trail gets slightly more difficult (and a lot narrower) until you reach the Ribbon Falls campground where the trail starts to ascend a bit more substantially. In this case, we were only heading as far as the falls, opting out of the fairly strenuous climb up the steeper part of the trail and then the climb up the cliff face to Ribbon Lake. To be honest, I’ve always felt that part of the hike was overrated. Yes it’s fun climbing up the cliffs, but Ribbon Lake is not nearly as interesting as the falls below.
All in all it was a good day and a good first hike in Alberta for the season. And given the so-so weather today, we definitely chose the better day of the two for the hike.
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2011.06.21
Posted in Food, Friends at 8:58 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
On Sunday, my friend Arman and I went to check out a new pub that opened on 10th Avenue called the Craft Beer Market.
They opened in the space that used to be Mother Tucker’s which is quite large and in an excellent location. They also managed to open a few weeks before Stampede, and I have no doubt that was the plan.
What makes this place different from many others in town is its focus on (and selection of) craft beers. With 104 different varieties on tap, they’re making a serious move into a market that is (in my opinion) very neglected in Calgary. It’s not a brewpub; all of the beer comes from other breweries, but it’s still a great addition to the Calgary scene.
The makeover from Mother Tucker’s is pretty astonishing – the main room is up a short flight of stairs from the entrance, and has huge windows and high ceilings. The lines from the kegs (located in a huge refridgerator in the back) to the bars run through large steel tubing mounted to the ceiling and give an interesting look to the space. There are also several and several other rooms are off to the East and West, up a few more stairs; The East room can be closed off for private parties. Overall, the feel is very open and spacious, not crowded like so many other pubs in Calgary are.
For my first trip, I drank several German beers that I last enjoyed 10 years ago when I was in Germany for a summer, and then had strawberry fruli for dessert, after enjoying a very tasty inferno burger and yam fries. Arman opted for the impossibly large 20-napkin burger (totalling 20oz of meat) which he was unsurprisingly unable to finish. I’m pretty sure a family of 4 could have split it and not been left hungry.
Another highlight of the visit was meeting the owner and being able to talk about the place with him and also gaining access to the generally employee-only beer fridge to get a closer look at the setup in there. Very impressive and something that is long overdue in Calgary. I suspect this place will do very well.
And will I go back? You bet your dunkelwiezen.
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2011.06.18
Posted in Board Games at 12:44 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
My friend Jason recently bought Tichu, which quite frankly puzzled me. In numerous past discussions he mentioned that he didn’t enjoy ladder-climbing games, and here he now owns a copy of Tichu. We played a 4-player game on Monday, although we played a short game (only to 500 points).
Craig and I won handily vs. our opponents, and I could tell during the game that Jason wasn’t enjoying it at all. I found that I sort of enjoyed playing a ladder climbing game with partners, although if we want to play a card game there is quite a list I’d reach for before Tichu personally. Apparently Jason felt this even more strongly; I suspect he’ll never again play Tichu.
This isn’t to say that Tichu isn’t a good game. Of all the ladder climbing games I’ve played, it and Gang of Four are easily my favorites and better than the majority of the rest; that said, not everyone wants to play a ladder-climbing game.
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2011.06.16
Posted in Board Games at 8:12 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
If you were to ask me, “If you could have any one out-of-print game re-printed, what game would it be?” My answer would have been very easy 6 months ago: Union Pacific. I thoroughly enjoy Union Pacific – it’s a great economic game that also has an agonizing push-your-luck mechanic that ratchets up the tension and keeps it there for the entire game. But obtaining a copy is not easy as it has been out of print, and most people who own the game aren’t willing to part with it.
Fortunately, Airlines Europe was recently released. Airlines Europe is designed by Alan Moon, who also designed Union Pacific. It’s a re-implementation of the same basic mechanics, although there are some minor differences that change it up just a bit. I eagerly snapped up a copy within a week of it arriving at my Friendly Local Gaming Store, and it hit the table in my games group this past Monday.
I truly enjoyed the game, and also appreciated the way in which the rules changes from Union Pacific made the game move much, much faster. There was a lot less downtime in Airlines Europe, and scoring was faster to resolve. Unfortunately, for whatever reason the tension didn’t ratchet up quite as high as it does for me in Union Pacific, but that’s a minor quibble. The game was truly fun and everyone at the table agreed it would have to come out again sometime.
Like Union Pacific, the most scarce resource in the game is turns. Since you can only do 1 action per turn, you have to make the most of it. The addition of money as another resource to the game means there’s a second resource to manage, in addition to turns, but it turns out there’s one simple rule that will likely keep it under control: always have enough money on hand for your next turn. If a stock appears in the market that you absolutely must have, there’s nothing worse than not being able to get it because you couldn’t afford to buy a route license. In the 5-player game we played, this was a large factor in whether or not you got a critical share in a stock or not.
Airlines Europe fills a nice gap in my personal collection, although I’m still itching to play Union Pacific again sometime.
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2011.06.15
Posted in Music, Sasquatch 2011 at 9:26 pm by Jeremiah Wittevrongel
Part of why I enjoy going to music festivals is that I get to check out artists I would likely never otherwise listen to. Sasquatch 2011 was no exception, and there were 5 sets I saw that prompted album purchases.
The first batch of shiny plastic-coated aluminum discs arrived yesterday, hand-packed by those Tall Brazilian Women.
I’ve listened to all of these once through, and I’m quite pleased with all of them:
- Chromeo / Business Casual. I had a great time dancing at Chromeo’s show at Sasquatch, and the album brings back that memory very vividly. The music doesn’t take itself very seriously, which is a good thing for electro-pop in general. Overall a pretty solid album, and one that will probably get a lot of airtime both at home and in the car. It’s probably a little too distracting for work though.
- Local Natives / Gorilla Manor. This one is more indie / rock than usual for me, and while I enjoy it, they were more fun live than the album would suggest. It’s still enjoyable, but a little offbeat for my taste. Perhaps it will grow on me (it wouldn’t surprise me).
- Fitz and the Tantrums / Pickin’ Up the Pieces. This is a great album and it does a good job of capturing their sound and mood. Of the three albums I mentioned here, this one transports me back to the front of the stage at Sasquatch the fastest. Moneygrabber is incredibly catchy, and it’s hard not to bop along.
There’s more on the way as well from 2 other artists.
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