June 18, 2022 • 38 mins
Summer is upon us, so it's time to get outside and do summery things. Today, Christine and JJ take their cues from the weather, the season, and some listener requests, and put their summer hats on. First, they head to the cabin to explore the forest, the trees, and the dappled sun. Then, they journey to the fair to stroll the midway and hit some roller coasters. All through the power of description-rich conversation!
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Episode Transcript
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JJ Hunt (00:03):
Talk description to me with Christine Malec and JJ
Hunt.
Christine Malec (00:27):
Hi, I'm Christine Malec.
JJ Hunt (00:28):
And I'm JJ Hunt. This is talk description to me, where
the visuals of current eventsand the world around us get
hashed out in description richconversations
Christine Malec (00:47):
It's summertime, it is so. So
summertime here where we are inToronto and summer is the time
for fairs and forests. What alovely phrase. So today we're
going to talk about some of thethings that you see in the
summertime. And we thought we'dbreak it down in that way. And
(01:07):
we got started thinking aboutthis actually us a couple of
months ago, JJ, you had gone fora little retreat off to Nova
Scotia, where you have a cabin,and you found an uprooted tree
and various things going onthere. That sounded pretty wild.
And it got us thinking about thevisuals of just being in a
forest and the things that youwould see there that don't often
(01:31):
get described in detail. I don'teven know where nature
documentaries, take this stuff.
And so I believe there was acarcass involved with deer as
well. I don't know where we wantto start there. But there was
was there a big tree uprooted?
Was that where the conversationstarted?
JJ Hunt (01:48):
Yeah. So on our tiny little piece of property that
we've got in Nova Scotia in thesoil is very, very shallow, and
there are lots of trees, lots ofbig tall pines like 100 foot
tall pines. But their roots arevery shallow because the soil is
very shallow. It's all it's allslate under there. And so what
(02:09):
happens is if there's awindstorm and a tree blows over,
which happens somewhatregularly, the tree will, you
know, the trees will come downand bring it's you know, people
often talk about a root ballunder a tree. But these aren't
really root balls, they're morelike root discs, because they
don't go deep. All the roots areshallow, so the tree will fall.
(02:29):
And it will bring with it thisdisk of of roots. And what you
can see is like you can goaround behind it once the trees
down, and you can see what'sunderneath, you can see the
underside of the root system.
It's awesome. And so we had thishappens regularly with small
trees, but we had a big treecome down so big, in fact, that
(02:51):
it took down three or four othertrees with it, not because it
hit them. But because the rootsare so interconnected. The only
thing that's keeping these treesrooted, as it were to the ground
is not that they're deep in thesoil, it's that they're all
connected with each other,they're over there laced
together. And so when this treecame down and pulled up its root
(03:13):
disk, it pulled up two or threeother root discs with it. And so
we we walked around with ourcameras and put on our our
rubber boots. So we could likestomp around in that slightly
damp pit that was left, leftunderneath. And we explored the
underside of these root discswas awesome.
Christine Malec (03:36):
So when those trees were standing, how high
up? Would you have to go up thetrunk to the first branch?
JJ Hunt (03:42):
Oh, very good question.
So of these 100 foot tall pines,you probably have to go, you
know, 70 or 80 feet before youget the kind of canopy of the
tree that the tree top there'llbe an occasional branch sticking
out here or there. But the real,you know, the part of the pine
tree that looks like a Christmastree is you know, maybe 70 feet
up on 100 foot pine. And sothat's the other cool part of
(04:05):
this is that you could walk thenow length of that tree because
it's lying flat on the ground.
And you could get to the treetops. So you could see the tree
tops on the ground. Yes, thatwas really neat. That you know,
very, very lush and green. Thiswas still you know, this one
huge tree was still looked veryhealthy and alive. So the top of
(04:28):
the tree was still very green.
And it really did look like aChristmas tree on top. You know
very green, the needles werevery vibrant and lots of tiny,
tiny pine cones on the top ofthe tree and, and you know,
reasonably dense the brancheswere reasonably packed,
reasonably well packed together.
And there's a there's afreshness there's a newness to
the to the top of the tree. Notonly are the needles green, but
(04:52):
they're they're new and small.
It's more vibrant than a lot ofthe other branches because
they're just they're new andfresh.
Christine Malec (05:01):
And so what did it look like when you walked and
looked underneath the root disk?
JJ Hunt (05:07):
So, so you're standing in a shallow that's like
literally maybe, you know, eightinches deep, it really is not
very deep at all. So you'restanding on slate and mud,
that's, you know, that's on theground. In fact, a few little
tiny saplings had alreadystarted coming up this month, we
knew someone had been to the, tothe cabin, I think it was two
(05:29):
weeks before we'd gotten there,and that tree hadn't been down.
So it this was really new, thishas only been two weeks. And
they're already a few littlesaplings growing out of the mud,
right. And I know really cool.
And in fact, some saplings hadgrown out from the root system
as well. So coming straight outof the root disk, and pointing
like making a right hand turnand going straight up into the
(05:50):
cloud. Yeah, really cool. So theunderside of the disc, it's this
kind of lacing together ofroots. So the roots are pretty
thick when they're closest tothe tree and then they taper and
get more you know, they getthinner and narrower and, and
they kind of sneak off and jointhis criss crossing. Net, this
this web of roots, let's maybestart with the top of it.
(06:15):
Normally when you're seeingbecause you can see some of
those roots when they areexposed on the ground, and
they're kind of mossy, and thebark is somewhat thicker even on
the roots because they it has tobe tougher because it's it's
exposed to the air and there arepeople and animals who are you
know, walking on this. So theyou know, it gets a bit of a
(06:35):
thicker skin as it were moss onthe top. But when you look on
the underside, it's it's again alittle bit more raw. So the bark
isn't as thick on these roots.
There isn't the moss coverage onon these routes, dark browns and
and then inside kind of likemore kind of pale beige colors,
(06:56):
if they were if you if any ofthat bark was was scraped away
very thin. And yeah, this web.
The other thing that was reallyinteresting again, a lot of the
ground is covered in moss, therewas a flap of moss that had been
pulled up as well as the so thedisc comes flying up and is now
vertical, but it had tugged aflap of moss off of another part
(07:19):
of the forest floor. And it washanging down like a flap of
skin. And so you could lift upthis like sheet. It was like
bigger than a tablecloth, youcould lift it up and it's this
just a sheet of moss it reallyreally cool. And again under
there you're getting, you'reseeing a couple of bugs and
(07:39):
things crawling around in there.
And in some twigs. And therewere some odd things that were
found in there too, like littletiny bits of, of stone and shale
and bone in a couple places justlike things that had that the
forest floor had managed to kindof swallow up.
Christine Malec (08:01):
There's been a lot of articles and talk in the
last few years about the fungusnetwork that exists in the root
systems of forests. And is thissomething that's visible to the
eye when you see an uprootedtree?
JJ Hunt (08:14):
Yeah, definitely. So my wife Lois has read a few of
these fantastic books that havebeen out and so she's constantly
giving us mushroom facts,whatever. The kids like to tease
her about that on anothermushroom. Okay, here we go
another mushroom fact. And sobecause she's read this stuff
recently, she's got it on herbrain, she is able to pick out
(08:37):
all kinds of things like oh,that mushroom there. That one
has a net work underground. Thatis however big it is, you know,
because a soccer field or what Ican't remember the facts of
this, that's her department. Butsometimes you get even just like
a little tiny, tiny bit offungus popping up. And sometimes
they have the cap on him like ayou know, kind of traditional
(09:00):
cartoon mushroom. But sometimesthey look more like little
trumpets, little flutes.
Sometimes they look like bundledtogether. straws, almost very,
very thin straws that get packedin tight. And they might have
little balls on top of themperhaps. And yeah, when the when
you get to see the underside.
Again, not only are you seeingthe underside of the root
(09:22):
systems, but you're of the treebut you're seeing some of that
root system of the mycelium,right? You're seeing what looks
like very fine hairs that are infact the roots for the
mushrooms.
Christine Malec (09:38):
One thing I've wondered about is when you're in
a forest, the look of the forestor the light or just the
ambience if it's coniferousversus deciduous, so that's
needles and cones versus broadleaves and does it create a
different ambiance or adifferent feel or a different
(09:59):
look in a forest?
JJ Hunt (10:00):
It does, yeah, I was thinking about this. As I was
walking through the city thismorning and knowing that we were
going to be covering this on thepodcast today. One of the things
that's interesting about walkingin the woods is, you never know
what's gonna lie ahead, likewhat's around the next corner.
And there's a real variety in inthe forest, if you choose to
(10:25):
tune into it. It's kind of likelistening to birdsong. If you
want, you can just, you know,sit in your lawn chair in your
backyard and listen to the birdssing and just let it be the
background. It's just birdsong.
If you choose, you canconcentrate on one bird or
another or listen to calls andresponses. And you can kind of
(10:45):
pay a little bit more attention.
And you can find this thespecifics within that within the
birdsong and it's kind of likethat in the woods. If you want,
you can just go for a walk inthe woods. And as a sighted
person who's taking in the worldvisually, you can just let it
all be green. And and enjoy thatfor what it is that there's just
(11:09):
greenery all around. But if youchoose to kind of tune into it a
little bit, then you do start tosee the differences between
being in a in a hardwood forestversus being in a hemlock
forest, for example, right, thedifferences are there if you
choose to take them in. So forexample, in in a hardwood
(11:30):
forests, so you've got stands ofthings like maples, and birch
and ash and beech, there's avariety of trees, so the shapes
of the leaves are different. Andthe branches on the on those
trees are different too. So theway the light comes through
those branches and those leaves,the dappling of the light on the
forest floor is going to bedifferent. And in the forest
(11:53):
floor will be covered with thoseleaves, not with dry needles,
for example. So the ground isgoing to have ferns and green
ground cover. Maybe shrubs whenthere are some small clearings
in the in the spring, there willbe flowering plants, so little
flowers popping up on the forestfloor. And then of course, in
the fall, you've got all the allthe colors of the leaves in the
(12:16):
fall in a in a hardwood forestlike that. And it tends to be
depending on how thick thatforest is, it might be quite a
warm forest because a fairamount of sunlight might be
getting through that canopy.
Whereas if you're in somethinglike a hemlock forest and
hemlocks are awesome, we've gotsome great Hemlock stands in
Nova Scotia near our cabin, andthe hemlock are great big trees
(12:38):
with high high tears of thesetwisted branches. The older they
get, the more twisted thebranches get. So they're
wonderful for kind of standingunder and looking up at the at
the branches because they looklike gnarled hands of like, you
know, cartoon witches. All thesebranches overhead and, and
hemlocks block out most of thesunlight. If you've got a big,
(13:02):
thick stand of old hemlocks, alot of the sun gets blocked out
by that canopy, so thetemperature drop is really
noticeable. It's quite a bitcooler, and the hemlocks like
acidic soil. So what happens isthe hemlocks which are blocking
out the sun, so there's not alot of sun getting down to grow
things on the ground. They dropall their needles and their
(13:23):
needles, you know, when they getto the ground, they're there,
they turn brown, and they'revery acidic, they make the soil
acidic, and that's too acidicfor most other plants. So the
forest floor in a hemlock standis pretty bare. There aren't a
lot of ferns, there's not a lotof green ground cover. And of
course, there are no leaves.
(13:45):
There's just this kind of thickblanket of dry needles. And so
you've got a completelydifferent experience. But I've
been on a walk in a forest likethat, that has a hemlock stand
and then has some more hardwoodsand whatever. And and I've gone
through a walk like that for anhour and not paid any attention
(14:05):
to any of it just enjoyed thecool air and and just enjoyed
the green all around. And thenI've gone on that walk. And on
another day when I'm in adifferent headspace, and really
noted those things like oh, wow,the ground covers completely
changed. Whoa, it's gottenreally cool in here. Why is
that? That so you can you cankind of tune in and tune out as
(14:27):
it were to those changes in theforest.
Christine Malec (14:30):
One of the things that's come up several
times is what it's like for asighted person to be in. If you
normally are in an urbanenvironment, which in Canada,
80% of us live in cities. So youknow, that's most Canadians,
when you get out of thatenvironment, what happens to
your eyes and your field ofview. And we've talked about
this a lot because it'ssomething I had never thought
(14:50):
about or known about until youraised it that once you get out
of the city, it's just restfulto look out a window and look
far away because you don't oftenget to It'll be looking far away
in the city and what happens tothat kind of view in a forest?
Because there's still treesaround. But there's the prospect
of seeing through the trees. Andis it still restful on the eye
(15:12):
in the same way as looking, sayacross a lake?
JJ Hunt (15:15):
Yeah, it's interesting.
So I definitely find that wholeexperience to be restful for the
eyes. And it's a little bit hardto just pluck out the sight part
of the restfulness, you know,the depth of field, but I think
it's definitely part of it,especially when you take in, you
know, the whole experience, say,if you're camping for a weekend,
you're and you're away for a bitof time in the in the woods, the
(15:38):
opportunity for like, a variedField of View experience. Most
of us, as you say, in cities,we're spending a lot of our time
indoors. And even morespecifically on screens. So our
field of view is what, 18 Inchestwo feet, that's it, if you get
up and you walk around yourroom, how far away is that, you
(15:58):
know, the furthest wall will beeight feet 10 feet, where our
field of view is nothing, evenif you go for a walk outside and
you walk down the street, theother side of the streets only
20 feet away, we're just notgetting that, that that range of
field of view. Whereas when youare in the forest, yes, the
trees might be close to you. Butyou can look down the path that
(16:22):
you can stand on the edge of alake and you can look across the
lake or if you get a break inthe trees, you can look up to
the top of some of those treesand you can see the canopy up
top so your eyes get thatthere's more varied. And then
there's also the close ups. Ifyou are like if you're just
sitting under a tree and alittle inchworm crawls up onto
(16:43):
your finger and literally likesqueezes its body into you know,
into a little hump shape andthen stretches itself out to
move along your finger inchesalong bit by bit, there's more
of a feels like anyway, there'smore invitation to look close at
things to look at a leaf and andfind the vein patterns within
(17:05):
that green leaf. Or check outthe bark on a tree and see how
the bark on a on a tree like ahemlock that is really thick and
peels off in chunks of verywoody, gray brown bark, and how
that's different from the paperywhite bark that you can you know
(17:27):
peel off all the way around abirch tree that has fallen and
then use that you know birchbark to light your fire those
you get a different opportunityfor a close up experiences like
looking at things in you know,really tight and close to your
eyes. And then, you know sittingback at night and seeing stars
(17:48):
way up in the sky seeing themthe Milky Way, which is an
experience that most of us don'thave any more if we live in the
city. And you get that variedfield of view that you know your
field of view over a weekendbeing in the forest or camping
or something like that. Thevariety of experiences for your
eyes is much more varied thanfor most of us living our day to
(18:13):
day lives in the city.
Christine Malec (18:16):
Oh my gosh I'm so you've totally evoked the
smell of sun warmed pine needlesto me it's alive in my head now.
I need a vacation so badly! Ican't wait for my vacation.
JJ Hunt (18:30):
Heh heh heh!
Christine Malec (18:35):
So let's bring it a bit back to two more
densely people spots and talkabout I guess we'll call it the
summer fair. So my experience ofthis living in Toronto is a
Canadian National Exhibition.
And that's a spot down by thelake that for two to three weeks
at the end of each summer. Itwas the official, you know,
(18:58):
close of the summer season andyou looked forward to that day
when your your mom or yourfamily you'd go to the x and you
do all the things that you dothere and I you know, I thought
it was all in the past and youknow, oh what a nice childhood
memory and a few years ago Iwent to a concert that happened
to be down there and to getthrough it to where the vent
(19:19):
from the venue. We walked wejust our route took us through
the Midway and I could notbelieve the sensory just like I
was eight years old again. I wasoverwhelmed overpowering sensory
and that's without the visuals.
(19:40):
I was just like the the the youknow the games and the rides and
Barker's I guess you call themyelling out for the game they in
the to those wheels that theyspan and half of it I don't even
know what it is but the sensoryexperience was just unbelievably
powerful. I was completelytransformed. Did back two to
(20:01):
eight years old and even even asa non sighted person, the
difference between day and nightwas, you know, really notable
noticeable and I think my momdid this on purpose she wouldn't
let us go on rides or play gamesuntil it got dark like until
Twilight and it just gave itthis whole other mystique of
like, wait, you know all theboring shopping bull crap you
(20:23):
know, I didn't care about duringthe day so much but the Midway
was was where it was at for me.
And so there's, you know, thevisuals of that I I never really
got them all unpacked and ofcourse, the rides, which I
didn't care that much that muchabout the game. So it was all
about the rides and the rollercoasters for me. So I we
actually did have requests forroller coaster descriptions,
right?
JJ Hunt (20:43):
Yeah, someone requested roller coaster description what
I'm totally down for. I mean,the whole experience of being at
a fair or a carnival or whateveris is fantastic. And as you say,
like, you were a thrill seeker,like as a kid, you would go on
all these.
Christine Malec (21:00):
I was game.
JJ Hunt (21:02):
I was two and I haven't I haven't been back in a while.
That's not entirely true a fewyears ago, after our you know,
we'd gone to the time when wewere taking our little kids to
the, to the fair. And then theywere offered their grandparents
one weekend. And again, Lois andI were walking downtown. And we
just happened across the X thesixth, you know, the CNE, and
(21:24):
we're like, we don't have thekids with us. But that doesn't
mean we can't go right. So thetwo of us went in just ourselves
without our kids and again, asyou say, acted like kids, and
tried to go on a few of therides. But yeah, my stomach
didn't handle it quite the sameway as a guy in my mid 40s!
Christine Malec (21:42):
You know what, JJ, I'm not convinced of what
the reason for that is because Ihad the chance to go on some of
those specific rides in like my,you know, call it 15 years ago,
I wasn't scared like rollercoaster scared, I was scared,
like, this thing's gonnacollapse under me like a pile of
matchsticks. Like it felttemporary. In a way I didn't
notice when I was eight yearsold, I can tell you, Well, that
(22:04):
is a difference betweenpermanent and temporary, that's
for sure. That was the big fearfor me was like this thing is
gonna collapse like deck ofcards.
JJ Hunt (22:11):
Absolutely. And visually, that those the
difference between a, like apermanent roller coaster and a
temporary roller coaster isstark. So when you're
approaching a roller coaster atsomething like I don't know. For
us, it's Canada's Wonderland,but a Disney World or something
like that. Those are very solidstructures. Permanent roller
(22:34):
coasters are solid. These days,not many of them are made with
wood, although if you can find awood one, those are those are
pretty fun to the clickety,clack, wooden roller coasters,
but mostly they're big, big, bigpieces of steel beams and bars
and posts and they're boltedtogether. And then not only they
bolted together, but they'repainted on top, which gives it a
(22:55):
really solid look. So if you'vegot something that's bolted,
welded, and then painted, itjust looks, it looks like one
solid piece. Whereas if you wereat a at a at a temporary fair,
that's only in town for a week.
And you see that those samekinds of connections. Yes,
they're bolted, but they'rebolted in such a way that is,
first of all easily accessible,right? Because someone's got to
(23:16):
get in there and put and putthose bolts through and take
those bolts off in a week. Sothey're not hidden away, they're
not tucked inside, those boltsare on the outside, so they're
clearly visible to anyonewalking by. and the ground is
always a little bit different.
It's not like a poured concretesurface is sometimes these are
in fields or you know, whatever,older parking lots even when
(23:39):
there are potholes. And so theseroller coasters that are more
temporary, or rides that aremore temporary, are often
leveled with concrete blocks andslabs of woods, like the legs of
these things, it looks like oh,you know, I'm gonna shove
another slab under this one. Andyou're gonna see all this, it
looks so temporary. And you cansee the tool marks on the holes,
(24:02):
there'll be scraped from, youknow, from being on it. So you
can visually as you'reapproaching some of these roller
coasters and rides, you can seehow temporary they are. But you
know what, that's part of thefun of these roller coasters is
the approach right? When you areas a sighted person, and I'm
really curious to hear yourexperience on these. But as a
(24:23):
sighted person, when you'reapproaching a roller coaster,
you're checking it out. So whereare the hills? Where are the
loops? Where are the twists,use, you see all of that in
advance. For the most part,almost all roller coasters are
outdoors so you can see thosethings. And you can anticipate
(24:44):
and the anticipation you knowdoesn't end when the ride
begins. The anticipationcontinues throughout. So you
know you're climbing the bighill at the beginning and click
as you get higher and higher andhigher. And you can see that the
top is Hamming the top isgetting closer, it's closer,
it's closer. So not only can youfeel that in your body, but if
(25:05):
you're if you're someone who'staking in the world visually,
you're looking at that there'sthe anticipation of that big
first drop. And then you know,as you're whipping around the
ride, you're just catchingglimpses. It's really hard as a
sighted person to watcheverything while you're on the
ride. If you film it, thenobviously the cameras still
(25:27):
rolling. It's a little bumpy andshaky, but it's still rolling.
Whereas if you're on that ride,your eyes are probably close.
Sometimes it's so shaky thatyou're not always seeing
everything in a smooth way.
You're getting glimpses. Also,you're turning a corner. Oh,
there's the glimpse of the loopde loops up ahead or your
corkscrewing down. It's like,oh, how is this going to end? I
can't see the real me now you'reoff. So those those moments of
(25:49):
visual anticipation are kind ofbuilt into the roller coaster
experience leading up to it. Andthen during it as well, how does
that work for you? When you'reon a roller coaster? What are
those moments of anticipationlike for you?
Christine Malec (26:05):
Yeah, so I was always secretly kind of put out
because, you know, we'd bewalking up to the roller
coaster, my sighted friends ormy family, like, you can tell
their heads all look throughtheir hearing up and their
little, oh, well, it's gonna.
And they'd start sentences andthen not finish them because
they're distracted by looking atand I just give up, like,
Whatever, whatever is gonnahappen happens. And, you know,
that's part of probably where Idevelop my fatalistic streak is
(26:27):
because no one can give you asense of what's really going to
happen. And I always kind ofsecretly wanted a model. And I
felt secretly grumpy that like,you guys got to at least know
what's coming. You think you'rebrave? Hey, don't try not
knowing what's coming. So 100%exercise and just like going
with the flow?
JJ Hunt (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, I've only been on one roller coaster that
was truly in the dark in Disney,they've got Space Mountain, at
least they did when I was a kid.
And it's an indoor rollercoaster, so they can turn out
the lights. And that's the onlytime I've had that experience.
And I 100% with you this notknowing what's coming, not
(27:09):
knowing when the next turn isnot knowing when the drop is
coming. Frankly, especially forsighted people who are not used
to that kind of experience. Thefear is, is delightful in that
in that situation, but it'sserious, like, not knowing is,
oh,
Christine Malec (27:29):
I'm a bit surprised, actually, that
sighted people would toleratethat, that as many people would,
you know, accept that as as seemto I didn't realize that. That
one was fully indoor. Likethere's one here. A Canada's one
Thunder Mountain, I think it'scalled and part of it's inside.
And I never actually thoughtabout that, that you don't see
what's coming, but it's onlypart of it. I didn't know there
(27:50):
was whole roller coasters whereyou don't have a clue. And yeah,
frankly, I'm, I'm a bitsurprised that that's even part
I get that is terrifying. I'msurprised as many people are
willing to tolerate that.
JJ Hunt (28:00):
Yeah, it's an interesting one. And I mean,
they do have like lights withinit, which are very strategically
designed, you know, you zip byhere and that looks like a
starry sky or there's some whatlooks like lasers, you know,
zipping by your, your field ofview. So like there are those
kinds of light actions andeffect I remember at one point,
(28:21):
and this might just be my mymemory, you know, embellishing
but I remember at one point asyour as your roller coaster
train is zipping along, anotherpassed upside down in front of
you not close enough that youwon't be anywhere near danger,
but it happens so quickly. Andthey flashed some lights at that
(28:41):
moment. So you just get thisflash like you're you know, like
look how close you are to it.
Yeah, no idea that they wereeven there. You could hear other
people screaming because thereare two or three different cars
going through this rollercoaster at any given time. And
you could hear people in thedistance is echoey kind of way
off in the corner you knowsomething's going on over there.
(29:02):
Yeah, really interesting. Butyet the lighting is is different
and I love that you're that youwere encouraged to go on these
rides at dusk are in the dark asopposed to during the day
because the lights change howthe Midway feels the energy on
the Midway the energy on theserides changes dramatically when
(29:23):
there's lighting.
Christine Malec (29:27):
Explain I know it I feel I felt it but I don't
know why. Well I feel it or wasit just me like it's Can you
explain that?
JJ Hunt (29:34):
Well, I mean, the energy would be I can it doesn't
surprise me like you even ifyou're not seeing the physical
lights, you're responding to theenergy of those who are right
and so the walking down a midwayduring the day is a little can
be a little bit like going intoa bar or a nightclub. At two
(29:55):
o'clock in the afternoon whenall the house lights are on.
Like I said you See all those,you know, slabs of concrete that
are holding up the rides and youcan get, you know too much of a
look at the garbage can behindthis cotton candy booth, right?
Like it highlights all of thosethings whereas at night it's
only the bright and shiny lightsthat they want you to see. So
(30:17):
the like the popcorn stand,which was really simple and had
a yellow sign with the red, youknow, very tattoo letters,
popcorn across the top and CandyApple signs and whatever those
signs are there during the day,but at night, They're glowing.
So the red letters pop and thereare probably like rows of light
bulbs, all like actual lightbulbs, not LEDs, but like bulbs
(30:41):
that are glowing all around andmaybe they're moving the lights
flicker. So it looks like theyou know, the lights are going
around and around and around thesigns and, and oh yeah, lots of
little kind of tricks with thelights and then the lights
inside. All of those booths arealways very, very bright. So
there's a spill, that happens.
So every little booth createsits own spill of light. And
(31:02):
again, all the games are thesame. So you've got a game tent,
and there are bright brightlights underneath the tent
shining down so that all thestuffed animals look like
they're glowing. So every boothalong the path along that Midway
is going to be bright. Andagain, the the colors of
Carnival signs tend to beextremely bright and simple
yellows, reds, and blues primarycolors really, really bright and
(31:27):
joyful. And then the ridesthemselves. So like if you've
got like a Ferris wheel orsomething again, during the day,
it's made of metal, maybe thelittle ferris wheel, you buckets
or whatever that you get thatyou sit in, they get carried
around. Maybe they're paintedred or green or rainbow colors,
whatever they're bright, butthen at night there, they're
(31:48):
probably going to be lined withlights so that each little
carriage eats little bucket thatgoes around and around this
ferris wheel it has lights on itor maybe it does have some
twinkling LEDs on it now and thespokes on the Ferris wheel was
during the day those spokes justlook like metal spokes, like the
spokes on a bicycle wheel. Nowthey've probably got like,
(32:09):
again, Christmas tree stylelights, long lines of lights
that go from the center of thewheel to the edge. And maybe
they go in a pattern in and outin and out in and out. So
everything is lit up. Everythingis garish, everything is bright.
And that's all so there's that,you know, the darkness, you
(32:31):
know, is a little bit moremysterious. It's cooler, so
people are not you know theirenergies up a little bit more
because they're not sweaty andyeah, all of those things fold
into, you know, an uproariousvisual experience at the
carnival or fair.
Christine Malec (32:52):
Do they ever arrange it so that when you're
lining up for a ride, you seethe people coming off of it?
Because I'm wondering about thefacial expressions and like have
you ever seen anyone puke?
JJ Hunt (33:06):
They do. I mean, sometimes it's funny, different
fairs and carnivals, they do itslightly different ways, right?
Sometimes there's side by side,like the entrance and the exit
is basically side by side. Andso you get to see everyone
coming off. And people eitherbeing, you know, huffing and
puffing and sharing those smilesand laughs and like, oh my god,
(33:27):
did you see that moment? Oh, Ialmost fainted, whatever. Or you
get to see them race over to thegarbage can and get rid of the
jumbo hotdogs that they gotbefore I have seen it but then
other experiences are different.
So again, I've been toDisneyland or Disney World where
they have a different way ofusing their lines. Disney, at
(33:49):
least in the past has beenamazing at making the lineups
part of the experience. So asyou are moving through the line,
there's set dressings and inyour it's part of the theme that
like for that Space Mountainone, for example, you would go
through and there'd be images ofspace on the wall and it would
it would treat you like you werean astronaut in a training
(34:12):
scenario. So there's images andin like, NASA style, propaganda
posters on the wall like thatkind of thing. If you were in
the haunted house at Disneylandor Disney World, you're you're
making your way through parts ofthe house as the lineup like
that's the line. So the thelineup is part of the experience
(34:35):
and you're separated from thepeople who are exiting, it's a
totally, then the exit has itsown experience probably through
the gift shop, right. So thepermanent rides are, in my
experience have been at least insome places are are different
and more involved. Whereas it'sall about the efficiency when
(34:56):
you're at the at the local fareyou Probably going to enter and
exit through the same clanking,a temporary steel gate that the
carny side by side,
Christine Malec (35:10):
Do you have a favorite personal memory of a
roller coaster ride that youreally like?
JJ Hunt (35:15):
Oh, okay. When I was a kid, there was a ride at the CNE
was called the Rotor. And it wasbasically -
Christine Malec (35:24):
Oh that spinny thing.
JJ Hunt (35:24):
That's right.
Christine Malec (35:25):
Where you paste yourself to the wall. That one?
That was your favourite? Okthat's weird choice. I've never
heard anyone say that's theirfavorite.
JJ Hunt (35:33):
Ha ha ha! It was my favorite because I'm four years
older than my brother. And sowhen I was maybe 12, and my
brother was eight, we went onthis thing together. And yeah,
so it's basically it's a it'slike a tub that spins. And the
walls are kind of like a blackrubber material. So that when it
spins you your body gets pressedagainst the wall, and then the
(35:56):
this like corrugated steel floordrops out from underneath you.
Yep, I remeber it well.
And you're left spinning andspinning, right? Yeah, really
super fun. So my brother and Igo on this. I'm 12. He's eight.
We start spinning and spinning.
We're pressed against the wall.
It's awesome. It's hilarious.
The floor starts starts to drop.
It's fun. It's hilarious. We'relaughing and laughing. I reached
(36:18):
over and grabbed my brother'sarm and spun him upside down.
His head was facing the floor.
We're pointing at the ceilinghad the strength to do that. And
my poor little brother didn't.
The floor comes back up. And mybrother's doing a handstand as
(36:42):
the floor. I thought that washilarious. My brother didn't
think it was as funny and Ireally certainly don't think my
parents thought it was asamusing when we exited the ride.
And my brother had something tosay to my parents about my
behavior in there. I was only12! Bad choice.
Christine Malec (37:03):
Admitted it, you'd do it to your kids,
wouldn't you?
JJ Hunt (37:05):
Never! They're bigger than me now they've been doing
it to me. Ha ha!
Christine Malec (37:08):
Ha ha ha! We love making this podcast. If
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Description.
Talk description to me with Christine Malec and JJ
Hunt.
Christine Malec (00:27):
Hi, I'm Christine Malec.
JJ Hunt (00:28):
And I'm JJ Hunt. This is talk description to me, where
the visuals of current eventsand the world around us get
hashed out in description richconversations
Christine Malec (00:47):
It's summertime, it is so. So
summertime here where we are inToronto and summer is the time
for fairs and forests. What alovely phrase. So today we're
going to talk about some of thethings that you see in the
summertime. And we thought we'dbreak it down in that way. And
(01:07):
we got started thinking aboutthis actually us a couple of
months ago, JJ, you had gone fora little retreat off to Nova
Scotia, where you have a cabin,and you found an uprooted tree
and various things going onthere. That sounded pretty wild.
And it got us thinking about thevisuals of just being in a
forest and the things that youwould see there that don't often
(01:31):
get described in detail. I don'teven know where nature
documentaries, take this stuff.
And so I believe there was acarcass involved with deer as
well. I don't know where we wantto start there. But there was
was there a big tree uprooted?
Was that where the conversationstarted?
JJ Hunt (01:48):
Yeah. So on our tiny little piece of property that
we've got in Nova Scotia in thesoil is very, very shallow, and
there are lots of trees, lots ofbig tall pines like 100 foot
tall pines. But their roots arevery shallow because the soil is
very shallow. It's all it's allslate under there. And so what
(02:09):
happens is if there's awindstorm and a tree blows over,
which happens somewhatregularly, the tree will, you
know, the trees will come downand bring it's you know, people
often talk about a root ballunder a tree. But these aren't
really root balls, they're morelike root discs, because they
don't go deep. All the roots areshallow, so the tree will fall.
(02:29):
And it will bring with it thisdisk of of roots. And what you
can see is like you can goaround behind it once the trees
down, and you can see what'sunderneath, you can see the
underside of the root system.
It's awesome. And so we had thishappens regularly with small
trees, but we had a big treecome down so big, in fact, that
(02:51):
it took down three or four othertrees with it, not because it
hit them. But because the rootsare so interconnected. The only
thing that's keeping these treesrooted, as it were to the ground
is not that they're deep in thesoil, it's that they're all
connected with each other,they're over there laced
together. And so when this treecame down and pulled up its root
(03:13):
disk, it pulled up two or threeother root discs with it. And so
we we walked around with ourcameras and put on our our
rubber boots. So we could likestomp around in that slightly
damp pit that was left, leftunderneath. And we explored the
underside of these root discswas awesome.
Christine Malec (03:36):
So when those trees were standing, how high
up? Would you have to go up thetrunk to the first branch?
JJ Hunt (03:42):
Oh, very good question.
So of these 100 foot tall pines,you probably have to go, you
know, 70 or 80 feet before youget the kind of canopy of the
tree that the tree top there'llbe an occasional branch sticking
out here or there. But the real,you know, the part of the pine
tree that looks like a Christmastree is you know, maybe 70 feet
up on 100 foot pine. And sothat's the other cool part of
(04:05):
this is that you could walk thenow length of that tree because
it's lying flat on the ground.
And you could get to the treetops. So you could see the tree
tops on the ground. Yes, thatwas really neat. That you know,
very, very lush and green. Thiswas still you know, this one
huge tree was still looked veryhealthy and alive. So the top of
(04:28):
the tree was still very green.
And it really did look like aChristmas tree on top. You know
very green, the needles werevery vibrant and lots of tiny,
tiny pine cones on the top ofthe tree and, and you know,
reasonably dense the brancheswere reasonably packed,
reasonably well packed together.
And there's a there's afreshness there's a newness to
the to the top of the tree. Notonly are the needles green, but
(04:52):
they're they're new and small.
It's more vibrant than a lot ofthe other branches because
they're just they're new andfresh.
Christine Malec (05:01):
And so what did it look like when you walked and
looked underneath the root disk?
JJ Hunt (05:07):
So, so you're standing in a shallow that's like
literally maybe, you know, eightinches deep, it really is not
very deep at all. So you'restanding on slate and mud,
that's, you know, that's on theground. In fact, a few little
tiny saplings had alreadystarted coming up this month, we
knew someone had been to the, tothe cabin, I think it was two
(05:29):
weeks before we'd gotten there,and that tree hadn't been down.
So it this was really new, thishas only been two weeks. And
they're already a few littlesaplings growing out of the mud,
right. And I know really cool.
And in fact, some saplings hadgrown out from the root system
as well. So coming straight outof the root disk, and pointing
like making a right hand turnand going straight up into the
(05:50):
cloud. Yeah, really cool. So theunderside of the disc, it's this
kind of lacing together ofroots. So the roots are pretty
thick when they're closest tothe tree and then they taper and
get more you know, they getthinner and narrower and, and
they kind of sneak off and jointhis criss crossing. Net, this
this web of roots, let's maybestart with the top of it.
(06:15):
Normally when you're seeingbecause you can see some of
those roots when they areexposed on the ground, and
they're kind of mossy, and thebark is somewhat thicker even on
the roots because they it has tobe tougher because it's it's
exposed to the air and there arepeople and animals who are you
know, walking on this. So theyou know, it gets a bit of a
(06:35):
thicker skin as it were moss onthe top. But when you look on
the underside, it's it's again alittle bit more raw. So the bark
isn't as thick on these roots.
There isn't the moss coverage onon these routes, dark browns and
and then inside kind of likemore kind of pale beige colors,
(06:56):
if they were if you if any ofthat bark was was scraped away
very thin. And yeah, this web.
The other thing that was reallyinteresting again, a lot of the
ground is covered in moss, therewas a flap of moss that had been
pulled up as well as the so thedisc comes flying up and is now
vertical, but it had tugged aflap of moss off of another part
(07:19):
of the forest floor. And it washanging down like a flap of
skin. And so you could lift upthis like sheet. It was like
bigger than a tablecloth, youcould lift it up and it's this
just a sheet of moss it reallyreally cool. And again under
there you're getting, you'reseeing a couple of bugs and
(07:39):
things crawling around in there.
And in some twigs. And therewere some odd things that were
found in there too, like littletiny bits of, of stone and shale
and bone in a couple places justlike things that had that the
forest floor had managed to kindof swallow up.
Christine Malec (08:01):
There's been a lot of articles and talk in the
last few years about the fungusnetwork that exists in the root
systems of forests. And is thissomething that's visible to the
eye when you see an uprootedtree?
JJ Hunt (08:14):
Yeah, definitely. So my wife Lois has read a few of
these fantastic books that havebeen out and so she's constantly
giving us mushroom facts,whatever. The kids like to tease
her about that on anothermushroom. Okay, here we go
another mushroom fact. And sobecause she's read this stuff
recently, she's got it on herbrain, she is able to pick out
(08:37):
all kinds of things like oh,that mushroom there. That one
has a net work underground. Thatis however big it is, you know,
because a soccer field or what Ican't remember the facts of
this, that's her department. Butsometimes you get even just like
a little tiny, tiny bit offungus popping up. And sometimes
they have the cap on him like ayou know, kind of traditional
(09:00):
cartoon mushroom. But sometimesthey look more like little
trumpets, little flutes.
Sometimes they look like bundledtogether. straws, almost very,
very thin straws that get packedin tight. And they might have
little balls on top of themperhaps. And yeah, when the when
you get to see the underside.
Again, not only are you seeingthe underside of the root
(09:22):
systems, but you're of the treebut you're seeing some of that
root system of the mycelium,right? You're seeing what looks
like very fine hairs that are infact the roots for the
mushrooms.
Christine Malec (09:38):
One thing I've wondered about is when you're in
a forest, the look of the forestor the light or just the
ambience if it's coniferousversus deciduous, so that's
needles and cones versus broadleaves and does it create a
different ambiance or adifferent feel or a different
(09:59):
look in a forest?
JJ Hunt (10:00):
It does, yeah, I was thinking about this. As I was
walking through the city thismorning and knowing that we were
going to be covering this on thepodcast today. One of the things
that's interesting about walkingin the woods is, you never know
what's gonna lie ahead, likewhat's around the next corner.
And there's a real variety in inthe forest, if you choose to
(10:25):
tune into it. It's kind of likelistening to birdsong. If you
want, you can just, you know,sit in your lawn chair in your
backyard and listen to the birdssing and just let it be the
background. It's just birdsong.
If you choose, you canconcentrate on one bird or
another or listen to calls andresponses. And you can kind of
(10:45):
pay a little bit more attention.
And you can find this thespecifics within that within the
birdsong and it's kind of likethat in the woods. If you want,
you can just go for a walk inthe woods. And as a sighted
person who's taking in the worldvisually, you can just let it
all be green. And and enjoy thatfor what it is that there's just
(11:09):
greenery all around. But if youchoose to kind of tune into it a
little bit, then you do start tosee the differences between
being in a in a hardwood forestversus being in a hemlock
forest, for example, right, thedifferences are there if you
choose to take them in. So forexample, in in a hardwood
(11:30):
forests, so you've got stands ofthings like maples, and birch
and ash and beech, there's avariety of trees, so the shapes
of the leaves are different. Andthe branches on the on those
trees are different too. So theway the light comes through
those branches and those leaves,the dappling of the light on the
forest floor is going to bedifferent. And in the forest
(11:53):
floor will be covered with thoseleaves, not with dry needles,
for example. So the ground isgoing to have ferns and green
ground cover. Maybe shrubs whenthere are some small clearings
in the in the spring, there willbe flowering plants, so little
flowers popping up on the forestfloor. And then of course, in
the fall, you've got all the allthe colors of the leaves in the
(12:16):
fall in a in a hardwood forestlike that. And it tends to be
depending on how thick thatforest is, it might be quite a
warm forest because a fairamount of sunlight might be
getting through that canopy.
Whereas if you're in somethinglike a hemlock forest and
hemlocks are awesome, we've gotsome great Hemlock stands in
Nova Scotia near our cabin, andthe hemlock are great big trees
(12:38):
with high high tears of thesetwisted branches. The older they
get, the more twisted thebranches get. So they're
wonderful for kind of standingunder and looking up at the at
the branches because they looklike gnarled hands of like, you
know, cartoon witches. All thesebranches overhead and, and
hemlocks block out most of thesunlight. If you've got a big,
(13:02):
thick stand of old hemlocks, alot of the sun gets blocked out
by that canopy, so thetemperature drop is really
noticeable. It's quite a bitcooler, and the hemlocks like
acidic soil. So what happens isthe hemlocks which are blocking
out the sun, so there's not alot of sun getting down to grow
things on the ground. They dropall their needles and their
(13:23):
needles, you know, when they getto the ground, they're there,
they turn brown, and they'revery acidic, they make the soil
acidic, and that's too acidicfor most other plants. So the
forest floor in a hemlock standis pretty bare. There aren't a
lot of ferns, there's not a lotof green ground cover. And of
course, there are no leaves.
(13:45):
There's just this kind of thickblanket of dry needles. And so
you've got a completelydifferent experience. But I've
been on a walk in a forest likethat, that has a hemlock stand
and then has some more hardwoodsand whatever. And and I've gone
through a walk like that for anhour and not paid any attention
(14:05):
to any of it just enjoyed thecool air and and just enjoyed
the green all around. And thenI've gone on that walk. And on
another day when I'm in adifferent headspace, and really
noted those things like oh, wow,the ground covers completely
changed. Whoa, it's gottenreally cool in here. Why is
that? That so you can you cankind of tune in and tune out as
(14:27):
it were to those changes in theforest.
Christine Malec (14:30):
One of the things that's come up several
times is what it's like for asighted person to be in. If you
normally are in an urbanenvironment, which in Canada,
80% of us live in cities. So youknow, that's most Canadians,
when you get out of thatenvironment, what happens to
your eyes and your field ofview. And we've talked about
this a lot because it'ssomething I had never thought
(14:50):
about or known about until youraised it that once you get out
of the city, it's just restfulto look out a window and look
far away because you don't oftenget to It'll be looking far away
in the city and what happens tothat kind of view in a forest?
Because there's still treesaround. But there's the prospect
of seeing through the trees. Andis it still restful on the eye
(15:12):
in the same way as looking, sayacross a lake?
JJ Hunt (15:15):
Yeah, it's interesting.
So I definitely find that wholeexperience to be restful for the
eyes. And it's a little bit hardto just pluck out the sight part
of the restfulness, you know,the depth of field, but I think
it's definitely part of it,especially when you take in, you
know, the whole experience, say,if you're camping for a weekend,
you're and you're away for a bitof time in the in the woods, the
(15:38):
opportunity for like, a variedField of View experience. Most
of us, as you say, in cities,we're spending a lot of our time
indoors. And even morespecifically on screens. So our
field of view is what, 18 Inchestwo feet, that's it, if you get
up and you walk around yourroom, how far away is that, you
(15:58):
know, the furthest wall will beeight feet 10 feet, where our
field of view is nothing, evenif you go for a walk outside and
you walk down the street, theother side of the streets only
20 feet away, we're just notgetting that, that that range of
field of view. Whereas when youare in the forest, yes, the
trees might be close to you. Butyou can look down the path that
(16:22):
you can stand on the edge of alake and you can look across the
lake or if you get a break inthe trees, you can look up to
the top of some of those treesand you can see the canopy up
top so your eyes get thatthere's more varied. And then
there's also the close ups. Ifyou are like if you're just
sitting under a tree and alittle inchworm crawls up onto
(16:43):
your finger and literally likesqueezes its body into you know,
into a little hump shape andthen stretches itself out to
move along your finger inchesalong bit by bit, there's more
of a feels like anyway, there'smore invitation to look close at
things to look at a leaf and andfind the vein patterns within
(17:05):
that green leaf. Or check outthe bark on a tree and see how
the bark on a on a tree like ahemlock that is really thick and
peels off in chunks of verywoody, gray brown bark, and how
that's different from the paperywhite bark that you can you know
(17:27):
peel off all the way around abirch tree that has fallen and
then use that you know birchbark to light your fire those
you get a different opportunityfor a close up experiences like
looking at things in you know,really tight and close to your
eyes. And then, you know sittingback at night and seeing stars
(17:48):
way up in the sky seeing themthe Milky Way, which is an
experience that most of us don'thave any more if we live in the
city. And you get that variedfield of view that you know your
field of view over a weekendbeing in the forest or camping
or something like that. Thevariety of experiences for your
eyes is much more varied thanfor most of us living our day to
(18:13):
day lives in the city.
Christine Malec (18:16):
Oh my gosh I'm so you've totally evoked the
smell of sun warmed pine needlesto me it's alive in my head now.
I need a vacation so badly! Ican't wait for my vacation.
JJ Hunt (18:30):
Heh heh heh!
Christine Malec (18:35):
So let's bring it a bit back to two more
densely people spots and talkabout I guess we'll call it the
summer fair. So my experience ofthis living in Toronto is a
Canadian National Exhibition.
And that's a spot down by thelake that for two to three weeks
at the end of each summer. Itwas the official, you know,
(18:58):
close of the summer season andyou looked forward to that day
when your your mom or yourfamily you'd go to the x and you
do all the things that you dothere and I you know, I thought
it was all in the past and youknow, oh what a nice childhood
memory and a few years ago Iwent to a concert that happened
to be down there and to getthrough it to where the vent
(19:19):
from the venue. We walked wejust our route took us through
the Midway and I could notbelieve the sensory just like I
was eight years old again. I wasoverwhelmed overpowering sensory
and that's without the visuals.
(19:40):
I was just like the the the youknow the games and the rides and
Barker's I guess you call themyelling out for the game they in
the to those wheels that theyspan and half of it I don't even
know what it is but the sensoryexperience was just unbelievably
powerful. I was completelytransformed. Did back two to
(20:01):
eight years old and even even asa non sighted person, the
difference between day and nightwas, you know, really notable
noticeable and I think my momdid this on purpose she wouldn't
let us go on rides or play gamesuntil it got dark like until
Twilight and it just gave itthis whole other mystique of
like, wait, you know all theboring shopping bull crap you
(20:23):
know, I didn't care about duringthe day so much but the Midway
was was where it was at for me.
And so there's, you know, thevisuals of that I I never really
got them all unpacked and ofcourse, the rides, which I
didn't care that much that muchabout the game. So it was all
about the rides and the rollercoasters for me. So I we
actually did have requests forroller coaster descriptions,
right?
JJ Hunt (20:43):
Yeah, someone requested roller coaster description what
I'm totally down for. I mean,the whole experience of being at
a fair or a carnival or whateveris is fantastic. And as you say,
like, you were a thrill seeker,like as a kid, you would go on
all these.
Christine Malec (21:00):
I was game.
JJ Hunt (21:02):
I was two and I haven't I haven't been back in a while.
That's not entirely true a fewyears ago, after our you know,
we'd gone to the time when wewere taking our little kids to
the, to the fair. And then theywere offered their grandparents
one weekend. And again, Lois andI were walking downtown. And we
just happened across the X thesixth, you know, the CNE, and
(21:24):
we're like, we don't have thekids with us. But that doesn't
mean we can't go right. So thetwo of us went in just ourselves
without our kids and again, asyou say, acted like kids, and
tried to go on a few of therides. But yeah, my stomach
didn't handle it quite the sameway as a guy in my mid 40s!
Christine Malec (21:42):
You know what, JJ, I'm not convinced of what
the reason for that is because Ihad the chance to go on some of
those specific rides in like my,you know, call it 15 years ago,
I wasn't scared like rollercoaster scared, I was scared,
like, this thing's gonnacollapse under me like a pile of
matchsticks. Like it felttemporary. In a way I didn't
notice when I was eight yearsold, I can tell you, Well, that
(22:04):
is a difference betweenpermanent and temporary, that's
for sure. That was the big fearfor me was like this thing is
gonna collapse like deck ofcards.
JJ Hunt (22:11):
Absolutely. And visually, that those the
difference between a, like apermanent roller coaster and a
temporary roller coaster isstark. So when you're
approaching a roller coaster atsomething like I don't know. For
us, it's Canada's Wonderland,but a Disney World or something
like that. Those are very solidstructures. Permanent roller
(22:34):
coasters are solid. These days,not many of them are made with
wood, although if you can find awood one, those are those are
pretty fun to the clickety,clack, wooden roller coasters,
but mostly they're big, big, bigpieces of steel beams and bars
and posts and they're boltedtogether. And then not only they
bolted together, but they'repainted on top, which gives it a
(22:55):
really solid look. So if you'vegot something that's bolted,
welded, and then painted, itjust looks, it looks like one
solid piece. Whereas if you wereat a at a at a temporary fair,
that's only in town for a week.
And you see that those samekinds of connections. Yes,
they're bolted, but they'rebolted in such a way that is,
first of all easily accessible,right? Because someone's got to
(23:16):
get in there and put and putthose bolts through and take
those bolts off in a week. Sothey're not hidden away, they're
not tucked inside, those boltsare on the outside, so they're
clearly visible to anyonewalking by. and the ground is
always a little bit different.
It's not like a poured concretesurface is sometimes these are
in fields or you know, whatever,older parking lots even when
(23:39):
there are potholes. And so theseroller coasters that are more
temporary, or rides that aremore temporary, are often
leveled with concrete blocks andslabs of woods, like the legs of
these things, it looks like oh,you know, I'm gonna shove
another slab under this one. Andyou're gonna see all this, it
looks so temporary. And you cansee the tool marks on the holes,
(24:02):
there'll be scraped from, youknow, from being on it. So you
can visually as you'reapproaching some of these roller
coasters and rides, you can seehow temporary they are. But you
know what, that's part of thefun of these roller coasters is
the approach right? When you areas a sighted person, and I'm
really curious to hear yourexperience on these. But as a
(24:23):
sighted person, when you'reapproaching a roller coaster,
you're checking it out. So whereare the hills? Where are the
loops? Where are the twists,use, you see all of that in
advance. For the most part,almost all roller coasters are
outdoors so you can see thosethings. And you can anticipate
(24:44):
and the anticipation you knowdoesn't end when the ride
begins. The anticipationcontinues throughout. So you
know you're climbing the bighill at the beginning and click
as you get higher and higher andhigher. And you can see that the
top is Hamming the top isgetting closer, it's closer,
it's closer. So not only can youfeel that in your body, but if
(25:05):
you're if you're someone who'staking in the world visually,
you're looking at that there'sthe anticipation of that big
first drop. And then you know,as you're whipping around the
ride, you're just catchingglimpses. It's really hard as a
sighted person to watcheverything while you're on the
ride. If you film it, thenobviously the cameras still
(25:27):
rolling. It's a little bumpy andshaky, but it's still rolling.
Whereas if you're on that ride,your eyes are probably close.
Sometimes it's so shaky thatyou're not always seeing
everything in a smooth way.
You're getting glimpses. Also,you're turning a corner. Oh,
there's the glimpse of the loopde loops up ahead or your
corkscrewing down. It's like,oh, how is this going to end? I
can't see the real me now you'reoff. So those those moments of
(25:49):
visual anticipation are kind ofbuilt into the roller coaster
experience leading up to it. Andthen during it as well, how does
that work for you? When you'reon a roller coaster? What are
those moments of anticipationlike for you?
Christine Malec (26:05):
Yeah, so I was always secretly kind of put out
because, you know, we'd bewalking up to the roller
coaster, my sighted friends ormy family, like, you can tell
their heads all look throughtheir hearing up and their
little, oh, well, it's gonna.
And they'd start sentences andthen not finish them because
they're distracted by looking atand I just give up, like,
Whatever, whatever is gonnahappen happens. And, you know,
that's part of probably where Idevelop my fatalistic streak is
(26:27):
because no one can give you asense of what's really going to
happen. And I always kind ofsecretly wanted a model. And I
felt secretly grumpy that like,you guys got to at least know
what's coming. You think you'rebrave? Hey, don't try not
knowing what's coming. So 100%exercise and just like going
with the flow?
JJ Hunt (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, I've only been on one roller coaster that
was truly in the dark in Disney,they've got Space Mountain, at
least they did when I was a kid.
And it's an indoor rollercoaster, so they can turn out
the lights. And that's the onlytime I've had that experience.
And I 100% with you this notknowing what's coming, not
(27:09):
knowing when the next turn isnot knowing when the drop is
coming. Frankly, especially forsighted people who are not used
to that kind of experience. Thefear is, is delightful in that
in that situation, but it'sserious, like, not knowing is,
oh,
Christine Malec (27:29):
I'm a bit surprised, actually, that
sighted people would toleratethat, that as many people would,
you know, accept that as as seemto I didn't realize that. That
one was fully indoor. Likethere's one here. A Canada's one
Thunder Mountain, I think it'scalled and part of it's inside.
And I never actually thoughtabout that, that you don't see
what's coming, but it's onlypart of it. I didn't know there
(27:50):
was whole roller coasters whereyou don't have a clue. And yeah,
frankly, I'm, I'm a bitsurprised that that's even part
I get that is terrifying. I'msurprised as many people are
willing to tolerate that.
JJ Hunt (28:00):
Yeah, it's an interesting one. And I mean,
they do have like lights withinit, which are very strategically
designed, you know, you zip byhere and that looks like a
starry sky or there's some whatlooks like lasers, you know,
zipping by your, your field ofview. So like there are those
kinds of light actions andeffect I remember at one point,
(28:21):
and this might just be my mymemory, you know, embellishing
but I remember at one point asyour as your roller coaster
train is zipping along, anotherpassed upside down in front of
you not close enough that youwon't be anywhere near danger,
but it happens so quickly. Andthey flashed some lights at that
(28:41):
moment. So you just get thisflash like you're you know, like
look how close you are to it.
Yeah, no idea that they wereeven there. You could hear other
people screaming because thereare two or three different cars
going through this rollercoaster at any given time. And
you could hear people in thedistance is echoey kind of way
off in the corner you knowsomething's going on over there.
(29:02):
Yeah, really interesting. Butyet the lighting is is different
and I love that you're that youwere encouraged to go on these
rides at dusk are in the dark asopposed to during the day
because the lights change howthe Midway feels the energy on
the Midway the energy on theserides changes dramatically when
(29:23):
there's lighting.
Christine Malec (29:27):
Explain I know it I feel I felt it but I don't
know why. Well I feel it or wasit just me like it's Can you
explain that?
JJ Hunt (29:34):
Well, I mean, the energy would be I can it doesn't
surprise me like you even ifyou're not seeing the physical
lights, you're responding to theenergy of those who are right
and so the walking down a midwayduring the day is a little can
be a little bit like going intoa bar or a nightclub. At two
(29:55):
o'clock in the afternoon whenall the house lights are on.
Like I said you See all those,you know, slabs of concrete that
are holding up the rides and youcan get, you know too much of a
look at the garbage can behindthis cotton candy booth, right?
Like it highlights all of thosethings whereas at night it's
only the bright and shiny lightsthat they want you to see. So
(30:17):
the like the popcorn stand,which was really simple and had
a yellow sign with the red, youknow, very tattoo letters,
popcorn across the top and CandyApple signs and whatever those
signs are there during the day,but at night, They're glowing.
So the red letters pop and thereare probably like rows of light
bulbs, all like actual lightbulbs, not LEDs, but like bulbs
(30:41):
that are glowing all around andmaybe they're moving the lights
flicker. So it looks like theyou know, the lights are going
around and around and around thesigns and, and oh yeah, lots of
little kind of tricks with thelights and then the lights
inside. All of those booths arealways very, very bright. So
there's a spill, that happens.
So every little booth createsits own spill of light. And
(31:02):
again, all the games are thesame. So you've got a game tent,
and there are bright brightlights underneath the tent
shining down so that all thestuffed animals look like
they're glowing. So every boothalong the path along that Midway
is going to be bright. Andagain, the the colors of
Carnival signs tend to beextremely bright and simple
yellows, reds, and blues primarycolors really, really bright and
(31:27):
joyful. And then the ridesthemselves. So like if you've
got like a Ferris wheel orsomething again, during the day,
it's made of metal, maybe thelittle ferris wheel, you buckets
or whatever that you get thatyou sit in, they get carried
around. Maybe they're paintedred or green or rainbow colors,
whatever they're bright, butthen at night there, they're
(31:48):
probably going to be lined withlights so that each little
carriage eats little bucket thatgoes around and around this
ferris wheel it has lights on itor maybe it does have some
twinkling LEDs on it now and thespokes on the Ferris wheel was
during the day those spokes justlook like metal spokes, like the
spokes on a bicycle wheel. Nowthey've probably got like,
(32:09):
again, Christmas tree stylelights, long lines of lights
that go from the center of thewheel to the edge. And maybe
they go in a pattern in and outin and out in and out. So
everything is lit up. Everythingis garish, everything is bright.
And that's all so there's that,you know, the darkness, you
(32:31):
know, is a little bit moremysterious. It's cooler, so
people are not you know theirenergies up a little bit more
because they're not sweaty andyeah, all of those things fold
into, you know, an uproariousvisual experience at the
carnival or fair.
Christine Malec (32:52):
Do they ever arrange it so that when you're
lining up for a ride, you seethe people coming off of it?
Because I'm wondering about thefacial expressions and like have
you ever seen anyone puke?
JJ Hunt (33:06):
They do. I mean, sometimes it's funny, different
fairs and carnivals, they do itslightly different ways, right?
Sometimes there's side by side,like the entrance and the exit
is basically side by side. Andso you get to see everyone
coming off. And people eitherbeing, you know, huffing and
puffing and sharing those smilesand laughs and like, oh my god,
(33:27):
did you see that moment? Oh, Ialmost fainted, whatever. Or you
get to see them race over to thegarbage can and get rid of the
jumbo hotdogs that they gotbefore I have seen it but then
other experiences are different.
So again, I've been toDisneyland or Disney World where
they have a different way ofusing their lines. Disney, at
(33:49):
least in the past has beenamazing at making the lineups
part of the experience. So asyou are moving through the line,
there's set dressings and inyour it's part of the theme that
like for that Space Mountainone, for example, you would go
through and there'd be images ofspace on the wall and it would
it would treat you like you werean astronaut in a training
(34:12):
scenario. So there's images andin like, NASA style, propaganda
posters on the wall like thatkind of thing. If you were in
the haunted house at Disneylandor Disney World, you're you're
making your way through parts ofthe house as the lineup like
that's the line. So the thelineup is part of the experience
(34:35):
and you're separated from thepeople who are exiting, it's a
totally, then the exit has itsown experience probably through
the gift shop, right. So thepermanent rides are, in my
experience have been at least insome places are are different
and more involved. Whereas it'sall about the efficiency when
(34:56):
you're at the at the local fareyou Probably going to enter and
exit through the same clanking,a temporary steel gate that the
carny side by side,
Christine Malec (35:10):
Do you have a favorite personal memory of a
roller coaster ride that youreally like?
JJ Hunt (35:15):
Oh, okay. When I was a kid, there was a ride at the CNE
was called the Rotor. And it wasbasically -
Christine Malec (35:24):
Oh that spinny thing.
JJ Hunt (35:24):
That's right.
Christine Malec (35:25):
Where you paste yourself to the wall. That one?
That was your favourite? Okthat's weird choice. I've never
heard anyone say that's theirfavorite.
JJ Hunt (35:33):
Ha ha ha! It was my favorite because I'm four years
older than my brother. And sowhen I was maybe 12, and my
brother was eight, we went onthis thing together. And yeah,
so it's basically it's a it'slike a tub that spins. And the
walls are kind of like a blackrubber material. So that when it
spins you your body gets pressedagainst the wall, and then the
(35:56):
this like corrugated steel floordrops out from underneath you.
Yep, I remeber it well.
And you're left spinning andspinning, right? Yeah, really
super fun. So my brother and Igo on this. I'm 12. He's eight.
We start spinning and spinning.
We're pressed against the wall.
It's awesome. It's hilarious.
The floor starts starts to drop.
It's fun. It's hilarious. We'relaughing and laughing. I reached
(36:18):
over and grabbed my brother'sarm and spun him upside down.
His head was facing the floor.
We're pointing at the ceilinghad the strength to do that. And
my poor little brother didn't.
The floor comes back up. And mybrother's doing a handstand as
(36:42):
the floor. I thought that washilarious. My brother didn't
think it was as funny and Ireally certainly don't think my
parents thought it was asamusing when we exited the ride.
And my brother had something tosay to my parents about my
behavior in there. I was only12! Bad choice.
Christine Malec (37:03):
Admitted it, you'd do it to your kids,
wouldn't you?
JJ Hunt (37:05):
Never! They're bigger than me now they've been doing
it to me. Ha ha!
Christine Malec (37:08):
Ha ha ha! We love making this podcast. If
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(37:30):
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