Category: Around the World
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Kowloon Walled City
A couple of years ago, I visited a beautiful park where the Kowloon Walled City used to stand. It was my first time hearing about it. This article breaks down its history. There is also some great information in this infographic. Here was what the Kowloon Walled City looked like before the government tore it…
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Turner’s practice
When you look at one of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s paintings, you might notice his work with color. Yes—while it is a landscape painting, and landscapes were seen as a relatively low form of art at the time, that Turner took on any way for better commercial prospects—it’s also much more than what even a…
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Itoya and the charm of stationary
While corporations such as Staples or Office Depot may sell supplies, a retailer like Itoya sells stationary. The difference is stationary comes with a charm just as essential as the equipment—creativity, possibilities, and consideration. If you visit Itoya’s 18-floor flagship store in Ginza, you’ll find all sorts of incredible products. When I went, I saw…
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A place and its magic
When my partner and I were on our honeymoon in Hawaii earlier this year, a driver told us about how the island had lost its magic to him. After he spent a couple of years there, he naturally stopped noticing the beauty of the island. He felt wistful about this, and while his intention was…
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Some notes on a return visit to Hong Kong
In late 2021, I moved to Hong Kong for six months. My partner and I enjoyed it so much that we ended up staying nearly a year and a half. We moved to New York City shortly after that, and I started my job at Figma. I always thought I’d document the trip some other…
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The Path
In the winter, when I commuted into downtown Toronto from my family’s hometown in the suburbs, I would often get where I needed to go through a Guinness world-record setting network of underground tunnels called the Path. I enjoyed getting lost in the Path, which usually meant discovering something—running into a new food court, finding…
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The magic of the first trip
My first two trips out of North America were to Portugal and China. I hadn’t visited Europe before, and I only visited Hong Kong once, nearly two decades before. Both trips were the result of flight deals. My friends and I traveled together—a group of four, and then a separate group of seven. We shared…
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Long & McQuade
Over a decade ago, my friends and I released the first episode of Prologue with a recording artist named Ryan Lewis. We drove from Toronto to Montreal, went backstage to Osheaga, recorded the interview, slept, and left early the next morning. That kicked off a series of other interviews with artists like Ty Dolla $ign,…
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Your city’s culture needs you
One of Toronto’s few magazine shops, Presse Internationale, is shutting down after nearly two decades of operation. A new landlord bought the building and is increasing rent for that storefront from $7,000 to $11,000. It’s difficult news, and there are a lot of things to feel upset about. What I think is missing from the…