The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Jimmy Kimmel is the late-night talk show host who’s been getting the most mileage out telling jokes at the expense of Toronto mayor Rob Ford, so why His Worship agreed to appear on the show is a mystery, even to Kimmel. Immediately after Ford took his seat, Kimmel asked Ford: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very very happy that you’re here. But…why are you here? What good could come from this? Have you ever seen the show?”

Here’s part one of his appearance:

Ford walks on at the 0:19 mark, at which point the band plays Toots and the Maytals’ hit, Pressure Drop. It’s a subtle dig for a couple of reasons. First, it’s a reggae tune and likely a poke at Ford’s infamous semi-coherent patois rant at one of his favourite hangouts, Steak Queen:

Second, it has these lyrics, which speak of a well-deserved comeuppance:

I say a pressure drop, oh pressure
Oh yeah, pressure drop a drop on you
I say a pressure drop, oh pressure
Oh yeah, pressure drop a drop on you

I say when it drops, oh you gonna feel it
Pressure pressure pressure pressure
(Know that you were doing wrong)
Pressure drops, oh pressure pressure pressure pressure
(Know that you were doing wrong)

It’s a dig in the spirit of the time when Michelle Bachmann appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night talk show and his band, The Roots, intro’d her with Fishbone’s Lyin’ Ass Bitch.

In case you’re not familiar with Pressure Drop, here’s the original by Toots and the Maytals:

Here’s part two of his appearance, which features a comparison of photos of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti and Rob Ford, a discussion of Ford’s daring Toronto Chief of Police Bill Blair to arrest him, and the infamous if still unseen “crack video”:

This segment makes it really clear that Rob wasn’t looking healthy last night. His red and black suit, shirt, and tie combination drew a lot of attention to his face, which was a colour that while suitable for ripe fuji apples, is a big health warning sign for humans:

An unaltered, un-colour-corrected, non-Photoshopped screen capture from the video.

Kimmel took a moment to wipe the sweat off Rob’s glistening forehead, some of which may have been nerves (perfectly normal, especially if you’re appearing on a live show watched by millions), and some of which may have been from being a massive guy with impulse control issues.

It gets more embarrassing in part 3, in which Kimmel shows a photo of the snack tray in Ford’s dressing room, showing the desserts having been devoured but the vegetable tray untouched, and then marched him to stage right to show him a selection of the videos that made him notorious and asked him to provide some context:

Rob has no explanations for any of the videos, even the “angry, drunken, violent rant” which is supposedly to be about his arranging for beatdown of his former brother-in-law in prison:

Ford claimed that he couldn’t recall whom he was ranting about in the video, to which Kimmel replied: “You have that many enemies, you don’t know which one this was?”

Here’s the final segment, in which Ford talks about his running for re-election, and in which Kimmel suggests that he seek help for alcoholism:

The most telling part of that final segment is the exchange in which Kimmel suggests that Ford seek some professional help. Ford will have none of it, and stays on his campaign message:

Kimmel: “If you are an alcoholic…if you’re drinking enough that you can try crack in your forties and you don’t remember it, maybe that’s something you might want to think about, you know, talking to somebody.”

Ford: “I wasn’t elected to be perfect, Jimmy. I was elected to clean up the mess that I inherited, and that’s exactly what I’ve done…You know what, talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words, and we’ll let the people decide on October 27.”

If you’re interested in a transcript of the interview, the National Post has posted one online.

Creative Commons photo by Kris Krüg. Click to see the source.

If you’re…

1. Heading down to Austin in the next couple of days to take part in the annual SxSWi (South By Southwest Interactive) conference, and
2. In need of a professional photo — a portrait, a headshot, a group photo, whatever,

…then you should drop Kris Krüg a line. He’s going to be there and he takes awesome pictures, including the one of me above from SxSWi 2011. I was wandering about the bar’s back patio when I ran into Kris, who said “I’ve gotta get a picture of you!”, and I was only to happy to oblige. Kris does great work — book him before he’s all booked out!

There are all sorts of ways to get in touch with Kris, and they’re listed on his “Contact Me” page.

This article also appears in Global Nerdy.

Photo via supermezzo.

Better late than never, this one’s for you, Harold Ramis. Requiescat in pace, funny man.

And while we’re on the topic…

MSNBC’s map of Ukraine and surrounding countries.
Click the photo to see the world ignorance at full size.

Yesterday, in its coverage of the crisis there, MSNBC showed a map of Ukraine and the countries surrounding it, including one that hasn’t existed in 21 years. Their map features Czechoslovakia, which split into two countries in 1993: the Czech Republic and Slovakia. If MSNBC is trying to rehabilitate the image of the “ignorant American”, they’re not helping.

In case you need a refresher course, here’s a map of central Europe:

Click the map to see it at full at full size.

Hence these buttons, which were circulating at today’s Manning Networking Conference, a coven of Canada’s conservatives named after generally terrible right-wing politician Preston Manning:

Found via Jordan Owens.

About this time twenty years ago, a musician who went by a single name released a quirky, stripped-down single built on a D major chord that got high rotation on my Mac (a Quadra 660AV on which I was teaching myself to build the hot new software of the time, multimedia applications), which was my primary music player at the time.

It was Beck’s breakout single, Loser, which had been released the prior year and got a lot of play during my DJ sessions at Crazy Go Nuts University’s engineering student-run Clark Hall Pub. For those of you who remember it or who’ve never seen it, here’s the video for the song, directed by Beck’s friend Steve Hanft on a $300 budget:

For me, 1994 was my final year of university, a time of some interesting music, serious final-year computer science projects, dealing with more than my fair share of girl trouble and twenty-something drama, and those tentative first steps away from the familiar bubble of university and into the real world. It was a year of big moves, big changes, and some steps out of my well-established collegiate comfort zone.

Six years later, I’d make a similar move into a larger world.

My residency in San Francisco from the fall of 2000 to the summer of 2001 could hardly be considered a success. A mere handful of weeks after talking the then-girlfriend into following me from “Lawn Guyland” to the west coast, she went back home, unable to make the adjustment. Shortly after that, the startup I worked for closed down the San Francisco office while I was visiting the head office in Toronto. I didn’t even get to go back; they simply went to my apartment, threw everything that wasn’t nailed down into a moving truck and sent it to me here.

Ten years after came my separation, and with it came a lot of crazy things. There was the week at the hospital with killer flu, the non-date gone terribly wrong, a couple of weeks at South by Southwest, leaving Microsoft to join Shopify, so much travel that home had become a nice place to visit, and most importantly, meeting someone very special.

I took this shot from my flight Wednesday night. Click to see at full size.

Twenty years after Loser, there’s another single that gets a fairly high rotation on my Mac (a 2011-era 15″ MacBook Pro on which I ‘m teaching myself to build the hot new software of the time, mobile applications), which is my primary music player. Coincidentally, it’s also a stripped down single from the previous year, riding the D major chord, put out by a quirky musician with a single name.

It’s this song:

Like twenty years ago, it’s a time of some interesting music, and serious computer-related projects. This time around, there’s no drama (in fact, the girlfriend just this week referred to me as “refreshingly drama-free”. But it is time to make another set of steps away from a familiar bubble of where I am right now and into a different world. It’s a time for big moves, big changes, and some steps out of my well-established middle-age comfort zone.

And I’m doing it next week.

I’ll go into more detail in a day or two, but in the meantime, let’s just say that the job offer letter has been countersigned. The necessary paperwork is getting put together. The stuff is being packed. The car is getting tuned up. A copilot has bravely volunteered to accompany me on a road trip. Next Thursday, I’m moving.

This should be interesting.