I drove over to visit my friend Marko today when I stopped on the side of the road to change the disk on the car’s CD player when the radio went on and I heard the sad news that today, Thursday June 25th 2009, the Prince of POP, Michael Jackson, suffered a cardiac arrest and was in a Los Angeles hospital and rumoured to have passed away.

Later on today the rumour has been confirmed. The world has indeed lost one of its legends. Michael, you will be missed by all who appreciate good music, and all who value the history of the humongously socially shaping phenomenon that has been pop music. May you find the peace and quiet that this world has denied you! May you rest in peace.

— Michael Jackson

Apparently, a discovery[dot]com publication explains how Michael Jackson was also the owner of a patent for a special kind of shoe, which allows a person to hook them into the stage in order to lean forward way farther than one’s center of gravity. The original link to the article is here: http://blogs.discovery.com/news_tech/2009/06/michael-jackson-had-a-patent.html

You can see a video which demonstrated this feat here:

Yesterday I went biking with Marko and Samir. We decided to do a long ride and go all the way down to Cambridge, from where to bus back in the evening. Our first point of attraction was the “Haunted cottage” or also known as “The secret pirate hideout”, a beautiful tiny cottage on the Grand River hillside, not officially used by anyone, other than the occasional youngsters who go there to drink, use drugs and perform pagan rituals, as the evidence littered around and spray-painted on the walls and floor lets us guess.

Our second goal was to find a place to eat, but what we didn’t anticipate was meeting two of Marko’s friends on the side of the trail, taking snapshots of each other by the river. The two were Shannon and …Shannon. Being armed with cameras, myself, Marko and Samir, couldn’t help but assist them by shooting diverse angles and then later intending to post the images on facebook for them to see. Then as we shot all those photos Samir remembered that he intended to ask me for some facebook id-photos himself, so I shot some.

Then, more or less against his will, I got a few of Marko, proud owner of a Holga film camera (if you don’t know what a Holga is click here).

I don’t think either of us expected to shoot so many photos that day.

Alright, I’m done talking, here’s the footage! Enjoy!

I updated my blog interface today! YAY! for artistic impulses. The old header image was getting old and since I have so many lovely images lately that would work great, it would be a shame not to use any.

In the end I decided that the part of the glamorous header image would be played by this photograph:

of the beautiful Alyssa Schroeder, of British Columbia; amazing model, talented photographer, very very good friend and just about the most lovable girlfriend one can wish for.

I found it amazing how the the image completely changed the feel of the entire blog, making it feel more lively and summery! Hope you guys agree and enjoy the new look and feel as I do.

On another note, here’s another wonderful coffeeCUP design that maically appeared on the wall of my coffee cup the other day as I was enjoying a self-made home-boiled cup of Greek-style-coffee!

This time it is a mutated giraffe drinking from a pond.

And since I love sharing the little things that make my day brighter, here’s a TUTORIAL:Making greek coffee video on YOUTUBE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm-WhTRE-74

Also! I have gotten around to editing some more photos of Alyssa! Check this out!

It is time once again for Stefan to do some nature photography. I miss going out into town and capturing the warmth of summer, the intense greens of the grass, the ageless emotion of the old buildings downtown and to once again enjoy a day spent biking on the trails in town.

Boy, I sound like I’m going through a mid-life crisis.

No joke though, I very seriously plan to hit the trails one of these days and visit some of these places below. They are some of my favourites:

These past three images are from the Kitchener-Waterloo Hydro Trail that is found at the West end of town, south of the end of University Avenue. This trail leads out of the city, past St. Agatha, far, almost all the way to Stratford. The entrance is a bit down Glasgow street, before hitting the railway

Also these three photographs are available as prints of various sizes in my RedBUBBLE gallery: Click Here

Here’s a map to the place with the images above:

View Larger Map

Oak Street, off of Victoria, a bit west of the intersection with King. This is one of my most favourite historical locations in Kitchener.