Jason Chapman
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jasonachapman.com
Jason Chapman
@jasonachapman.com
hiking cooking reading canoeing learning playing
music literature food art mushrooms movies trees
Curious and worried.
jasonachapman.com
Absolutely agree. If you disagree I invite you to try to use a bike lane in Toronto.
My unpopular urbanist opinion is that big, hyperfast two-wheelers are a menace and should be banned from bike lanes/paths (with enforcement).

These things endanger everyone riding a bike or legal e-bike. Worse, they deter some from even trying.
E-bikes have evolved into e-motorcycles. Law enforcement is lagging behind.
Serious injuries are on the rise in emergency rooms around the country, as electric cycles become bigger and faster. Lawmakers and police departments are scrambling to address the problem.
www.inquirer.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Since everyone I know is intent on moving to some off-grid sanctuary to grow their own food, I'll share this thoughtful reading list I found today!
lithub.com/the-10-best-...
The 10 Best Books on Permaculture
To begin, it may be helpful to define permaculture, as the term itself dates back only to 1978. The word is simply a portmanteau of “permanent” and “agriculture,” and was coined by Bill Mollison an…
lithub.com
September 29, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Severence, Stephen Shore and Gregory Crewdson photography and so many more that appear to have taken cues from this film. I love finding these touchstones that pull everything together.

boxd.it/1WLK
PlayTime (1967)
Clumsy Monsieur Hulot finds himself perplexed by the intimidating complexity of a gadget-filled Paris. He attempts to meet with a business contact but soon becomes lost. His roundabout journey parallels that of an American tourist, and as they weave through the inventive urban environment, they intermittently meet, developing an interest in one another. They eventually get together at a chaotic restaurant, along with several other quirky characters.
boxd.it
September 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
A few nice pictures of places I've been this year.

jasonachapman.com/blog/2025/9/...
Offline in 2025 — Jason Chapman
No choice but to unplug and go outside this summer. It doesn’t go away but it’s great to remember there’s a whole physical world out there.
jasonachapman.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Notes from inside the bubble:
YouTube has become so attractive as a career choice that comments under a popular video are largely from fellow or aspiring YT'ers complimenting the content choices and execution rather than their connection or opinion of what's in it. The medium is still the message?
August 27, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Back to the world and internet today after a week floating around the wilderness. 7 stars. (Out of 5)
August 23, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Not sure what I clicked on but I'm getting fed lots of YT videos of people in their 50's and 60's saying "I'm ... years old and these are the top 5 secrets..."
Am I supposed to have figured this shit out by now?
August 1, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Fantastic news! But, I can't help still being pissed that this much effort and peoples' time and money were needed to "combat" this ridiculous move in the first place.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Ontario court strikes down Ford government's plan to remove Toronto bike lanes | CBC News
An Ontario court has deemed the province's plan to remove three major Toronto bike lanes unconstitutional.
www.cbc.ca
July 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM
I remain unconvinced that pickleball was a necessary invention.
July 15, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Pretty happy to be Canadian this year!
July 1, 2025 at 5:07 PM
State of modern life management: souring Social Media

What I've left myself with is

YouTube shorts: repetitive, unfunny and terrible
Bluesky: 99% breathless exclamations of political attrocities

So, not very interested in spending much time on them.
June 27, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Tuesday Social Experiment:
Disagree with someone IRL today. Offer halting agreement to someone online.
June 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Discovered this book by accident and I'm enjoying it but, more importantly, I am dumbfounded that someone in the world has made a living out of the same combination of interests as me! (writing, photography, walking, Japan)
I have some delving to do!

craigmod.com/books/things...
Things Become Other Things
A book of walking the Kii Peninsula
craigmod.com
June 8, 2025 at 5:12 PM
I have to agree.
I was annoying too when I was a teenager, but usually in something like Passenger 57 or Days of Thunder, so it was raucous anyway.
I'm seeing grown adults openly talking like they're on their own couch and eating a full dinner.
It's over.

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ju...
Martin Scorsese no longer watches films in cinemas due to audience bad behaviour
Noise of phone conversations and guzzling of snacks have spoiled the experience, veteran director tells critic Peter Travers
www.theguardian.com
June 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
On top of dropping off the other socials, I'm also trying to reduce money going to Amazon so I'm not buying books from them, including Kindle and Audible. I'm pretty happy so far with libro.fm. Plus, it sends proceeds to the shop around the block!
#books
Buy audiobooks & support local bookstores
Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks directly through local bookstores.
libro.fm
May 23, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Mario Vargas Llosa
"Without fictions we would be less aware of the importance of freedom for life to be livable, the hell it turns into when it is trampled underfoot by a tyrant, an ideology, or a religion."
lithub.com/mario-vargas...
Mario Vargas Llosa has died at 89.
The Nobel Prize-winning Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, the last living titan of the Latin American literary “boom,” and one of the most influential writers of the Spanish-speakin…
lithub.com
April 14, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Jason Chapman
Not only that, many people using this space to talk about art and culture, myself included, has a private context and constant sense of anxiety they choose not to exacerbate by doomposting/scrolling.
Anyone screaming at people for talking about goofy stuff like movies and art online "while the world burns" has not for a single second considered or cared that the person talking about their joys night be doing so TO GET THEMSELVES THROUGH THE BURNING TIMES.
April 8, 2025 at 5:39 PM
To U.S. news outlets referring to any Canadian politician on any level and from any province as "top Canadian official" - this is lazy and ignorant. It's unlikely you're saying anything useful. I suggest people avoid those sources altogether.
April 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I don't think I've ever been so interested in visiting a bookstore in person. I'm pretty sure I'll make a trip to Ireland one day just to see this place. Whenever my book tastes get too niche, I end up getting it from here. (All the way to Toronto)

@kennysbookshop.bsky.social
March 28, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Well, it's the weekend. This is the only good thing I came across today so please enjoy.

Butcher Brown - Letters From The Atlantic

Youtube: music.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

AppleMusic: music.apple.com/ca/album/let...
Letters From The Atlantic by Butcher Brown on Apple Music
Album · 2025 · 12 Songs
music.apple.com
March 28, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Since every single post I've seen here today is angry and frustrated that Doug Ford won the provincial election again I think it's fair to say this is a pretty significant, if pleasant, bubble. They control the channels. We can't reach the others through media, social or otherwise, just in person.
February 28, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Apropos of nothing: I heartily recommend listening to "The Queen is Dead" by The Smiths. That guy could really turn a phrase to some jangly guitar!
February 23, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I'm glad to see artists moving out of the Meta environment and to a place that values human-made art!

"we decided to build a place that filters out gen AI images so that people searching for authentic creatives and images can do so easily"

cara.app/explore
Cara | Artist Social & Portfolio Platform
Cara is a social and portfolio platform for the entertainment art industry.
cara.app
February 13, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Useful tool for strategic voting which seems necessary once again. This left vote splitting situation has got to go.
If Doug Ford wants a needless election so badly, we can make him regret it
#VoteFordOut

Chip Ford down to a minority, and the Opposition can form government instead

#UniteTheVote
Sign the pledge
http://act.notoneseat.ca/UnityPledge

#ONpoli #TOpoli #ONhealth #ONed #NotOneSeat
February 13, 2025 at 3:29 AM
I don't have a lot to add to the public discourse and my life is pretty small but here's a reminder of the wisdom and solace that comes from reading fiction.

This one really stands out. I loved it at the time. Now it's a reminder that none of this is new.

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...
DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING | Kirkus Reviews
Shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize, Thien’s ambitious saga explores the upheavals in Chinese politics from 1949 to the present through several generations of friends, family, and lovers whos...
www.kirkusreviews.com
February 12, 2025 at 1:55 AM