[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIDGyRO6w2o[/youtube] As Google Street View spreads from city to  city, it's inevitable that people will try to do some fun things when the Googlemobile drives by. Two artists in Pittsburgh recently did just that, starting A Street With a View, along with a cast of dozens. Though Street View has captured some odd and funny  moments, it doesn't give a sense of who lives in the neighbourhood. This project attempts to add a bit of community into the images. Street With A View introduces fiction, both subtle and spectacular, into the doppelganger world of Google Street View. On May 3rd ...

Oct 29 Update: There are 557 people signed up on the Facebook page, many from Toronto, but there are growing Montreal numbers. If you're on board with the idea, please help us spread the word by inviting your friends (especially those in other cities) and posting on your blogs. There will likely be a small piece about this in the Montreal Gazette on Monday -- my question to our readers is this: do we know where Montrealers gather in public for spontaneous celebration? If the event below appeals to you, go to the Facebook event page and join, and then invite all your people to join -- especially if they're in a different city. This is not an "organized" event -- but we've been overhearing people asking "where will you be election night" so why not encourage a giant civic celebration? If the rest of the planet could vote, Barack Obama would win the American 2008 election in an unprecedented landslide. It's safe to say that much of the world is waiting anxiously for the Obama victory -- think of the 200,000 people that saw Obama speak in Berlin last July. The United States has lost moral support and sympathy around the world over the last eight years. The Obama win is a chance for a new start and to patch up both its reputation and its international relationships. We need to send a big fun signal of good faith that we're ready to have them back. Let's do that by gathering together in our public squares to celebrate this new era and show our American friends they are not alone in the world. Here's how it will work: When CNN declares victory (since it's the news organization most internationally available) head to your city or town's main square where public celebrations usually take place. If it's a square with a big video screen maybe they'll broadcast results so you can go early, or watch the victory speech after. Like when your sports team wins, it's better to celebrate in public with everybody else. In Toronto, the natural place to head is Dundas Square. It's got the space, those big TVs, and after every hockey championship, it is naturally filled with people. Where is Montreal's natural gathering spot? Though planning this before results are in risks a "Dewey Defeats Truman" scenario (let's all knock wood) it's worth the risk. We may not agree with everything the United States does or even with all of Obama's platform, but let's put all that aside and, for once, celebrate America's new start. Welcome back America!

In the washroom of the cafe where we held our Spacing Montreal anniversary party on Sunday, I found this statement scrawled on the chalkboard wall. We could make out the part about Toronto not understanding the concept as it's too democratic, but couldn't decipher what that concept was. The CMSWW above would appear to be part of the statement, but googling doesn't bring anything up. Any ideas? Will crosspost this to Spacing Toronto for further input. In an effort to promote pan-Canadian understanding and fellowship, we may have left our own chalk ...

I was content to let the Toronto International Film Festival pass by without any personal involvement -- even riding out my way around Yorkville to avoid seeing the desperation of people trying to get into films and producers tying to sell their ideas -- until last night when I saw a screener of the new NFB film La Memoire des Anges (The Memories of Angels). It's a collage of bits of NFB films produced about Montreal and takes us on the most fantastic journey -- often from a pedestrian's point of view -- of that ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEiy4zepuVE[/youtube] A neat video showing photographs of cities from space with a resolution and quality not seen before. The ability of these rocket scientists to construct a mechanism to cancel out the earth’s orbital movement so the photo does not blur is amazing, though perhaps what one expects from rocket scientists. If you can’t see it, this is the direct YouTube link. Via the Creative Class blog.