Ça devait attendre au printemps mais finalement une opportunité de louer un local unique, très lumineux, s’est présentée et nous sommes en train de considérer la chose. « Nous » c’est moi, Marie-Claude Doyon (à son retour au travail) et notre ami Pier-Hugues Pellerin.

C’est un espace de plus de 1500 pieds carrés. Le nombre exact de colocs et le fonctionnement pour les tables de travail reste à déterminer mais nous considèrons 6 à 8 personnes avec des tables de travail assez longues pour chacun(e) + une très grande table partagée pour activités plus « bricolage » + une table à dessin partagée. Il y aurait donc des places pour travailler et un espace pour bretter sur des projets, faire du découpage, monter des maquettes, etc.

Nous sommes deux développeurs web et une designer, alors nous cherchons d’autre(s) designer(s) ou illustrateur(trice), cinéaste, animateur(trice) ou autres disciplines créatrices qui peuvent fonctionner avec une table (ou chevalet ou table à dessin) et un peu d’espace genre atelier. Nous voudrions nous limiter à (au plus) une autre personne qui travaille dans le web afin que l’espace soit occupé par des personnes complémentaires et diversifiées.

J’ai écrit Plateau Est parce que c’est surtout intéressant pour quelqu’un qui habite dans le coin de Papineau/de Lorimier à des intersections au sud ou au nord de St-Joseph/Mont-Royal. (Mais ça peux se faire assez bien en métro/bus quand même.)

Comme nous n’avons pas signé le bail, je garde ça un peu caché, donc si ça vous intéresse et que vous voulez plus de détails, contactez-moi ou MC.

I love this post by Andre Torrez.

A rough recounting of what goals I wanted to achieve:

1. Make money (duh)
2. Like and respect the people I work with
3. Really enjoy my day and feel like I got something done
4. No pointless meetings
5. Making something I’m proud of

Another thing: getting enormously wealthy selling your company for ten million or fifteen million dollars is obviously pretty freaking awesome, but having had a bit of money in the bank the past couple of years I have come to realize what I really wanted in life was a job I liked going to every day and people I like working with. Because if I did end up fabulously wealthy that’s pretty much what I’d end up doing, so why not just do it now?. (emphasis mine)

Read the whole thing of course and it also fits in very well with this I’ve seen passed around recently.

It seems it’s a John Maeda quote but can’t find it anywhere on his blog or old site.

I love Merlin, especially with his new focus. Pretty much every post is must read. Free as in ‘Me’ is one of those.

You “page” your articles to the point of hostile unreadability. You disguise or bury links to source articles in a way that makes your article seem a little more canonical than the real thing. You encourage unmoderated comment threads in which cheering an uncivil race to the bottom of the Port-O-Let means triple page views. You may even compel your indentured “writers” to hew to a stifling regimen of post volume, pointless stock art inclusion, and even compulsory word count — simply because the cargo cult of statistics whispers which coconuts make the best headphones. You conspire to trick, deceive, annoy, and badger your audience up to precisely that moment when they say, “Screw it,” and just never come back.

What makes all this melodrama so interesting today, is that we are all in the midst of an unprecedented and unavoidable global re-thinking of what a lot of things really “mean.” Economy. Home. Family. Security. Entertainment. Identity. You name it. There are a shit-ton of grenades still rolling around on the floor right now, and I’m one of those crazy fringe types who publicly, ardently hopes that at least one of them blows out a few load-bearing walls inside industries that are in overdue need of a bottom-up redesign. No matter what.

If there is one conclusion to be drawn from the life of Leonardo, it is that procrastination reveals the things at which we are most gifted — the things we truly want to do. Procrastination is a calling away from something that we do against our desires toward something that we do for pleasure, in that joyful state of self-forgetful inspiration that we call genius.
—How to Procrastinate Like Leonardo da Vinci

Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.”
—Directing (via Christine)

… As a photographer, I’ve learned to hear that voice and take the shot whenever that happens. In a place like Japan at times I wouldn’t know what it was I was documenting or even be able to explain why I was taking the picture (beyond describing the scene as “cool”). But once I’d noticed something and photographed it, chances were good that I’d notice it again—as if that click of opening the shutter coincided with the creation of a new info-capture zone in my brain.—Ever Notice?

That is not true about profits. Economically, the more the long tail expands, the more stuff there is to compete with our limited attention as an audience, the more difficult it is for a creator to sell profitably. Or, the longer the tail, the worse for sales. But if we view the long tail as a market of a different type, as a market of enthusiasm and connection, then as the long tail expands, this increases the chance of two enthusiasts meeting, and so the longer the tail, the better. The first two pockets of the curve are trying to maximize profits; the last pocket of the long tail is trying to maximize passion and connectivity.—Wagging the Long Tail of Love

A who’s who of powerful companies and business associations have banded together to push for less restrictive copyright reform, driving a stake into the heart of the federal government’s argument for its new copyright bill.—Business coalition opposes harsh copyright reform

Done. Hugh has a great model for a letter to Jim Prentice about his misguided plans for a Copyright Act. Please print, sign and send or at least email this to the Minister of Industry.

[Update] Also go join the Facebook Fair Copyright group.

If you have any interest at all in copyright, public domain, innovation and Canada then you must read Howard Knopf’s post which states that Canada’s copyright law is stronger and better than U.S.’s. The upcoming copyright revision that might be proposed by our government before christmas is looking more and more like it’s going to be a crippling, destructive, piece of US pleasing crazy ass crap. Knopf debunks the US statements claiming that our copyright law is weaker than their’s. I repeat; must read.