detroitblog

An interesting blog for those who grew up near Detroit as I did.
The tour of the old motown building is really interesting.

I thought I would post on some good books about Toronto's past that I have read.

The Stubborn Season by Lauren B. Davis is a very good novel about Depression-era Toronto.  I found this novel very enjoyable to read.  The novel has great descriptions of the Depression era layout of Toronto including St. John's Ward, the slums that used to stand where Nathan Phillips Square is today.  It also accurately portrays the struggle that occurred in society over what to do about the extreme poverty that the Depression caused.  Portraying this issue from different perspectives, this novel brings to life a part of the history of Toronto that we often take for granted.

Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood.  This novel, more than any other Atwood novel, captures the Toronto of Atwood's youth - 1950's and 1960's.  In this book, you can get a sense of the wooded ravines of Toronto's largest city, one of its most romantic features.  I find that these ravines play a large role in the life of anyone who grew up here.
I read Cat's Eye long before I lived in Toronto, I may give it another read soon.

In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje.  Some people I know have said they didn't like this book, it was boring and nothing happened.  Perhaps that could be said of the plot but this book has the most beautiful descriptions of Toronto's past, making the city one of the main characters.  Particularly interesting is the story around the building of the Bloor St. viaduct, the bridge that crosses the Don Valley connecting East and West Toronto.  In the Skin of a Lion also describes the neighbourhoods that used to exist around Eastern Avenue.  This area was an area where working class immigrants used to live and is now going through a slow revitalization as the industrial areas are re-claimed again for residential use.

Check out this excellent music blog : Benn loxo du taccu  is  about African music.  The best part of the blog is that the author posts songs from different artists.  It is a great blog to read if you would like to expand your African music knowledge.

He posts on some of my favourites :

Salif Keita
Cheikh Lo

On the TTC the other day I saw a woman reading a thick novel called, "Coronation Street: The Complete Saga".  Can you believe that they put Coronation Street into a book format?  She sat down next to me and the section that I read over her shoulder had Ken getting caught talking to a woman by Elsie.  He begged Elsie not to tell Val.  Oh Ken, when will you learn.

Blogware is now available in Spanish.

Lately, the new music service Pandora has come up amongst a few people I know.

For those who haven't tried it, Pandora is an on-line streaming music service that allows you to create a 'station' based on entering an artist or a song.  Pandora creates a playlist of songs it thinks you would like based on their similar sound and style to what you have entered.

The songs in the Pandora library have been classified by musicians and music lovers based on over 100 attributes for a song.

I really recommend trying this out to see what you think.  Its certainly an interesting idea.  The goal of Pandora is to help you find more music that you would like by putting in artists you may not know who have a similar style to an artist you do know.  In theory, this replaces your "music friend" who says, 'Hey have you heard <band name here>?  I think you would like them'.

So Pandora can create a nice playlist for you at work that is less distracting than listening to a radio stream.  Personally, I find I miss the human element.  A good dj should surprise you and Pandora never surprises you by say putting Li Ma Wesu by Youssou N'Dour after 'In Your Eyes' by Peter Gabriel.  First, because Pandora has a non-existent world music collection and second, I doubt these tracks would be considered a 'match'.

Also, I enjoy getting recommendations and playlists from friends.  It is a social activity to share music.  To have it done by a program has far less value to me.

Oh and business model : weak.  I would never pay a subscription for this service.  Would you?  There are the obvious advertising and buying click through to Amazon etc for revenue.  I'm sure Pandora is getting a piece of that.  But how many people will buy a CD or track because Pandora recommended it.  Why do I need to own it when I can just fire up Pandora?