Elsewhat

Photo by Taras Grescoe

From author Taras Grescoe comes a nice little meditation on what make Japanese streets particularly great. Since my partner and son went to Japan a few months ago, I’ve heard many times about how wonderfully human-scale Japan is, and how its multiple modes of transportation absolutely blow away all of the lauded European cities like Amsterdam or Copenhagen in terms of livability and transport.

Grescoe writes:

There are no cars. Sure, drivers might pass through, but they don’t stick around: that’s because there’s no on-street parking. A simple reality, which explains why the streets in so many neighborhoods of Tokyo and other Japanese cities are a paradise for kids (and cats).

Read More Here →

I spotted some random streaks of colour from the end of the loading dock. I had to walk down a long ramp with dog in tow to see what it actually was. I’m not sure if this is an accident or the work of an artist, but I like it a lot.

It’s the time of year where the sun sets very close to “Montréal North”, which is actually North-West, and so shines perfectly down many streets and even narrow alleys.

Found in Montréal’s Mile Ex.

A paint off at the Mural street art festival. MC Baldassari vs. Jason Wasserman.

Spotted this little paste-up by street artist Labrona.

Here I am in my spiffy new Pink House t-shirt.

What is the pink house? Roughly three years ago, someone took it upon themselves to climb up a long-abandoned malt plant on the outskirts of downtown Montreal, and paint a part of the factory that looked like a little cabin bright pink.

To the best of my knowledge this rogue act of daredevil maintenance is a complete mystery. Nobody knows who did it or why. Later it was decorated for Christmas.

Shirts available here →

This message was tied to the fence around a beautiful park building that burned down, and which someone apparently thought the municipal government was being overly slow to fix.

Back in my favourite city of Montréal after a few days down in New York.

Another NYC find—a fully painted art garbage truck, from their Trucks of Art program.