Comments on: Staying Yonge

Staying Yonge

gman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:17:42 -0800

At 9 a.m. on a clear day in April, Ismail Atievand his friend, D.J. Pataeve, armed themselves with two cameras and walked forty-two kilometres from Yonge and Wellington Streets in Aurora to the point where Yonge Street begins at Queens Quay in Toronto—a journey that took them fourteen hours to complete.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:29:56 -0800

And now I'm a bit dizzy from focusing on the people, not the scenery. I think they should have gone up one way from one guy's perspective, then back via the other guy's point of view.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:32:28 -0800

You should see the slow motion version of this video. It's 140 years long.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:33:41 -0800

I will never get sick of stop-motion any thing.

By: fimbulvetr

fimbulvetr — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:34:44 -0800

Neat. I drove the lenght from TO to the Manitoba a few years back. Definitely worth it.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:35:13 -0800

Only relevant to Canadian MeFites, so sorry.

By: fimbulvetr

fimbulvetr — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:36:48 -0800

The Manitoba border, that is.

By: kmz

kmz — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:38:23 -0800

Only relevant to Canadian MeFites, so sorry. Eh?

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:40:30 -0800

Pretty nicely done. Makes me nostalgic. Doing the downtown part at night seems fitting with the garish lights in what is the shittiest part of the street, excepting the redevelopment from Dundas south.

By: Corduroy

Corduroy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:40:35 -0800

Cool stuff, but could the second guy really only think of one pose in 14 hours?

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:41:19 -0800

Neat. I drove the lenght from TO to the Manitoba a few years back. Definitely worth it. Toronto to Vancouver via the Trans-Can two years ago. Everyone should do it.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:42:32 -0800

What's the longest street, I wonder — anyone else know?

By: 2bucksplus

2bucksplus — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:44:27 -0800

I liked the first sentence because until I got to "Toronto"I tried to guess where in the world the following nouns would make sense: "Ismail Atievand", "D.J. Pataeve", "forty-two kilometres", "Yonge", "Wellington Street", "Aurora", and "Queens Quay" I guessed New Zealand.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:44:57 -0800

I set out to walk the entire length of Broadway in Manhattan when I lived in NYC many years ago; I only got from Marble Hill (now part of the Bronx, but formerly part of Manhattan before the Spuyten Duyvil was rerouted) to Times Square before I had to leave off and make a previous appointment, but I'd previously walked Broadway from Battery Park to the Upper West Side on a different day, so I'd covered the whole thing. Quite a nice hike.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:45:07 -0800

Per the article, Guinness lists the Pan-American highway as the longest navigable road. I'm pretty sure if you discount the whole Yonge St vs Highway 11 thing then it's still the longest road by a conventional definition that excludes highways.

By: Elmore

Elmore — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:01:30 -0800

That was great, and I'm not Canadian or Canadist.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:03:25 -0800

Also, I regret to inform all and sundry that the Copyright Party Poopers have pulled "Garth and Gord and Fiona and Alice", an SCTV sketch which was my introduction to Yonge Street, from YooChoob. Bah.

By: Elmore

Elmore — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:11:39 -0800

I will never get sick of stop -motion any thing.>I will never get sick of stop -motion any thing. Those are e x c e l l e n t .

By: sriracha

sriracha — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:21:14 -0800

A map for those who, like me, are obsessed with maps...

By: CharlesV42

CharlesV42 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:33:44 -0800

I tried to do something similar once, going on a 24 hour walk. no stop motion, but the effect of speeding up that length of film is similar.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:35:29 -0800

As I watched it I was wondering why it sometimes seemed like he was coming forwards and at other times seemed to be going backwards. I think it was because of the sequences (in particular, the cars) of the objects in the background. If you get several (different) objects that step backwards in a linear sequence, it creates the illusion of him walking forward and vice versa. Interesting. Sort of related (in terms of linear motion illusions) – Rewound!

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:38:53 -0800

If we're talking about Yonge Street, and things everybody ought to try once, let me recommend the Vomit Comet.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:53:53 -0800

damn do I miss Yonge st. After 2 or 3 am that street attracts the oddest collection of sketchy people, and none of them seem to be heading anywhere or doing anything useful. also, Vancouver has a nice equivalent to the Vomit Comet - the N20, which is the nightbus that runs from downtown up Commercial Drive. I have, on occasion, gone out and caught that bus just for the pure spectacle of it.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:02:33 -0800

nicely done.... fun.. You know they said at the beginning.. "center that dot in the middle of the viewfinder on my nose...."

By: ericb

ericb — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:10:42 -0800

What's the longest street, I wonder — anyone else know? In ancient times, Via Appia (The Appian Way) would likely place high on the list.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:15:58 -0800

as you're going, you can just see the buildings getting bigger and higher and the more lights and cars Wouldn't you get that same effect by, you know, DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:21:32 -0800

Depending on traffic, it may be faster to walk 40km down Yonge St versus driving.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:38:46 -0800

What font are they using in their titles? It looks like the roman characters from a Chinese language font like SimSun.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:43:25 -0800

> If we're talking about Yonge Street, and things everybody ought to try once, let me recommend the Vomit Comet. Disclaimer: not recommended for those over the age of 30 and/or sober.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:52:56 -0800

I'd previously walked Broadway from Battery Park to the Upper West Side on a different day a different day, so I'd covered the whole thing. Quite a nice hike. Not to pick nits, but unless you mean Inwood when you say the Upper West Side (and that is the WAY Upper West Side) you didn't even get close. Even assuming you're only interested in Manhattan, Broadway keeps going all the way, up past Washington Heights and Fort Tryon Park (around the back of The Cloisters) and right up to the tip of the island and on into the Bronx.

By: autodidact

autodidact — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:59:22 -0800

Should have taken photos slightly more frequently.

By: invitapriore

invitapriore — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:16:15 -0800

Not to pick nits, but unless you mean Inwood when you say the Upper West Side (and that is the WAY Upper West Side) you didn't even get close. Whoa, halt the New York-off, brother! Mr. Jack noted that he had covered the distance from Marble Hill to Times Square on a previous day, so his combined efforts yielded a complete traverse of Broadway, Manhattan-side. Also, I thought the second guy's pose was great. It made his side of the journey look like the Exorcist on vacation.

By: Pseudoephedrine

Pseudoephedrine — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:54:01 -0800

It's sad to say, but I've actually been up and down Yonge St. so many times that by the time they got to about Finch station, I could pin-point where they were from then on simply by the background. I'm sure many other GTA residents could as well. Great vid.

By: Dasein

Dasein — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:08:00 -0800

A map for those who, like me, are obsessed with maps... Depending on traffic, it may be faster to walk 40km down Yonge St versus driving. I was just going to say, my favourite thing about that map: "40.6 km – about 52 mins"

By: hortense

hortense — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:15:22 -0800

A tie, with coinciding Aurora.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:09:14 -0800

Whoa, halt the New York-off, brother! Mr. Jack noted that he had covered the distance from Marble Hill to Times Square on a previous day, so his combined efforts yielded a complete traverse of Broadway, Manhattan-side. Ah! So he did. Good on you, Mr. Jack and my apologies for hating on your Broadway cred.

By: ErikaB

ErikaB — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:25:00 -0800

That video does something weird to my brain. The first guy is on the "right" side of the street, and the second guy is on the "wrong" side of the street. I have no idea where this impression comes from, but it is absolutely unshakable. Anyway, very cool video, thanks!

By: Partial Panel

Partial Panel — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:39:46 -0800

These guys made it much harder for themselves by taking such small steps. Wow!