1.28.2011

you can't find it on a map...

Maps. Map-map-mappity-map.

What am I going to map when I have the chance?

I've often thought about doing a food map of Edmonton. Despite being limited by celiac disease, I'm still a foodie at heart.  The map would have several categories of cuisine (Mexican, Bistro-style, Japanese, Italian, etc.) but also categories such as "Hidden Gems", "Places to Avoid" and "Where to find (blank)". I don't want to limit myself to just restaurants, because there are lots of great shops around the city that carry things  you would never have imagined, like the Portuguese Bakery on 118 Ave with their egg-tarts, or The Happy Camel in the West End, which makes the best Baba Ghanouj ever.

I'd also love to do a Classic Hitotoki map of Edmonton. The new Hitotoki is too reminiscent of Twitter to hold my interest. I think Twitter is a great business and networking tool, but I really don't care about how awesome your Venti-No Foam-Extra Hot-3 Pump-Toffee Nut-White Mocha is. I really don't.

What I like about Classic Hitotoki is that it's like a gallery; carefully curated to ensure maximum viewer/reader enjoyment. The stories on the website are beautiful, and after reading a few, I wish I could have been there to witness those moments myself. The profiles of the authors that accompany the stories are also very interesting, because it's not only a view from the local inhabitants, but also a view from travelers, students abroad, business folk. It gave me a sense of the individual place in the collective space.

Looking at Hitotoki got me thinking about making what I would call a memory map. I'd find an area of the city that I am familiar with in some way and record memories from various locations. Eventually, I'd like to build the map so other people can add memories to the same locations, if they have memories of that specific area. As someone who loves music, I though it might also be interesting to attempt a music memory map. Spots on the map would be tagged with a particular memory, a song associated with that memory or with the place itself. What might be cool is to send someone on a walk of that map, with a playlist on their iPod and have them play certain songs in certain places.

This is what I've come up with so far. Thoughts?

1.21.2011

a definition

My Edmonton is defined along paths which I use to travel to and from, to and from, to and from. The road from my house to the University is well-worn by the wheels of the number 4. The sleepy shop windows of Whyte Avenue become my favorite movies, watched over and over and over again.
It is the loop down 109 Street, past Wizard Comics, The Garneau Theatre, Transcend Remedy and Da Capo, that swerves neatly around past The Sugarbowl and the High Level Diner. It encompasses a good part of the North Campus and completes itself at the junction of Whyte Ave and 109.
I spend a lot of time in theatres. Something about sitting in the dark watching people perform make-believe is equal parts haunting and hypnotic. This is my medium, as well, so whenever I am watching theatre, I have to let go of the “Hey, I know that person,” and let the character win me over. Whether small or large, old or new, absurd or realist, I am never more at home than I am sitting in the dark in front of a stage.
I also spend a lot of time in coffee shops, and there, I spend the most time writing I’m always searching for new coffee shops to write in, a bench or a corner I can appropriate for an hour or two. But it must have good coffee. I’ve never felt comfortable writing at home. I likened it once to having sex in your parent’s house; at any moment, they can walk in and you’re caught, naked and vulnerable at the height of your orgasm.
Though it’s unlikely, the potential always exists, and this is why I write in coffee shops.

1.15.2011

test 1-2-3-1-2-3

Alright, here we go...

This blog will chronicle my observations about Edmonton over the course of my English class. I'll be looking at it's history, it's people, it's hidden gems and major attractions, it's shape, it's space and the magical pull that seems to keep people here.