Category: Toronto

"Brick remains aloof. He is very handsome, and possibly a homosexual."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I got home around 8:30 tonight and am rather wiped, so blogging tonight will be terse.

  • I ate two fortune cookies today (Kung Hey Fat Choi!) and the fortunes inside read “A sweet surprise awaits you” and “Goods that are not shared are not goods.” You know what though? Those lines never worked on the girls in my high school, so I don’t know why I should put any faith in them now.
  • I wish I liked The Weakerthans‘ music as much as I liked John Samson’s lyrics.
  • Caitlin: still hot. Stacie Mistysyn: girlfriend du jour.
  • The Onion always make me laugh, but sometimes it’s so brilliantly absurd that I can only marvel and wonder where they buy their wonderful drugs. Today’s article “Ask The Stage Directions To Tennessee Williams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” may set the bar at an all-time high.
  • It’s fully fucking snowtastic out there tonight. It’s been windy and blizzard-y all day, and there was more thundersnow earlier tonight. My walk home tonight, though only a few minutes from subway to lobby, was about seven different kinds of unpleasant. I’m ready for spring now.

[tags]fortune cookies, kung hey fat choi, weakerthans, degrassi, caitlin, the onion, tennessee williams, cat on a hot tin roof, toronto, blizzard, thundersnow[/tags]

"Devour the moose!"

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While Nellie and her mom were out yesterday I watched a documentary called The Heart Of The Game (imdb | rotten tomatoes) about a Seattle high school girls basketball team. While the entire team was followed for several years, the main focus was on the coach (a college tax professor) and Darnellia Russell, a star guard who goes through a pretty huge roller coaster ride over the course of the film. Recommended, especially if you like sports, and basketball in particular.

.:.

Last week the Toronto District School Board voted to approve the creation of one or more “afro-centric” schools, to focus on black students. Premier Dalton McGuinty clearly isn’t a fan of this decision, but I don’t see how the provincial government can take an official position like that when Ontario still has an entire Catholic school board.

I’m really torn about this. In an ideal world something like this wouldn’t be necessary; black kids, white kid, kids of any ethnicity or background would be treated equally in the existing school system. However, given the high dropout rate among black kids, it’s obvious that something’s broken and needs fixing. Whether or not it’s the right answer to open an afro-centric school, at least the school board is acknowledging that something needs to happen. I don’t buy all the panicked murmuring about this being segregation; while it’s not ideal, no one’s forcing black kids to stay away from white schools.

So, the question becomes whether the school(s) will work. Will dropout rates for black kids at these schools be lower than at traditional schools? If so, I guess most people would see that as success, but it’d be hard to judge; would these schools have more or less public funding than traditional schools? More or less private funding? Better teachers? More motivated students? It’s hard to conduct a reasonable test when it’s not apples to apples.

But let’s say all the external factors were the same and dropout rates at these schools fell below the average. Let’s say the dropout rate at afro-centric schools fell below the overall dropout rate for students of all races, but only black students were allowed to attend. We’d then have segregation of a new kind, and all the complicated debates that go along with it (see affirmative action). Then again, economic segregation already exists today because of the private school system, so I guess this is nothing new.

One problem at a time, I guess. It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses, and how successfully it is…if that can even be measured.

[tags]the heart of the game, afro-centric schools, toronto district school board[/tags]

"The blues is when you love someone don't love you"

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.:.

Last night was a great Toronto night…lots of snow, a (relatively) quiet downtown and some comfort food after a trying week. We took Nellie’s mom to Smokeless Joe which, despite the fairly empty streets, was packed to the ceiling. We finally got three seats together and put down some pasta and some beer before hitting the wall. We’d all had a long day so we just came home and watched some TV (The Wire…so good!!) before crashing.

I have to say, after a week of corporate finance, it did me some good to sit in cozy little Joe’s with my wife, drink a good beer, have some good food, chat with the excellent staff and listen to Leadbelly on the stereo. My recharging has continued today; with the snow now stopped we had some breakfast at Over Easy and I now have the place to myself as Nellie and NellieMom have gone to see Dirty Dancing. Me, I’ll be staying home and watching the Canadiens game on TV…oh, right about now.

.:.

United 93 has been playing on TMN lately, and I’ve watched bits and pieces of it over the past couple of weeks. I thought the film was unsettling and brilliant when I saw it, and thought it was one of the best of 2006, but I simply cannot watch it again. It’s too hard on me. Every time I watch it, even just a few scenes, my guts twist into a knot. It’s probably the most physical reaction I’ve ever had to a film, and it happens every time I see it. I want to watch it — Paul Greengrass is a master at that sort of emotional recreation — but I get apprehensive just thinking about it.

I guess I’ll just have to lot it from a distance.

[tags]berczy park, smokeless joe, leadbelly, united 93[/tags]

Is there anyone "old, grey-haired, hard-drinking Scottish geezers" can't inspire?

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No time for fancy bloggin’ tonight, kids. Too much work to do. It’s link-dump time:

It could be like this all week, so have some other reading material on hand with which to occupy yourselves.

[tags]triumph, toronto, road tolls, gentrification, wall street journal[/tags]

"Not your God. Mine."

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The sun actually came out today. The wind still made it bitterly cold, but it was nice to at least see some sunshine for the first time in weeks, even if it didn’t help warm things up.

.:.

Just as I’ve pretty much gotten rid of my cold, Nellie’s gotten sick with one of her own. It’s a different cold than what I had — all in the throat, this one — but she’s no less miserable. Last night she had just enough in her to enjoy a couple of drinks and some dinner at beerbistro, but this morning she was worse. Scrapping our original ambitious plans, we ran out just long enough to pick up some food, a book at Nicholas Hoare (Cormac McCarthy’s The Road…I got one without an Oprah sticker, thank Gutenberg!) and some movies.

.:.

Two of those movies we watched this afternoon:

I thought Sunshine (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was quite good. I’ve liked pretty much everything director Danny Boyle’s done, and while this wasn’t exactly new cinematic ground, Boyle made it interesting without being too “sci-fi” at all. Definitely recommended.

28 Weeks Later (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was Nellie’s pick…she wanted something a little dumb and action-y. It wasn’t terrible, but just couldn’t live up to 28 Days Later (also directed by Boyle, and starring Cillian Murphy who also starred in Sunshine…come to think of it, Rose Byrne was in both Sunshine and 28 Weeks Later…I guess Danny Boyle likes continuity) and fell back a little too much on cliche. Not bad, but you’re better off just watching 28 Days Later again.

[tags]toronto sunshine, nicholas hoare, cormac mccarthy, oprah, sunshine, 28 weeks later, 28 days later, danny boyle[/tags]

"I left my thimbles and socialist reading material at home."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

.:.

Wow, three days without blogging. That’s probably a record. I can explain: busy Friday, busy Saturday and today I feel like ass.

Friday I was at work until about 7:30, and by the time I got home all I really had the energy to do was eat and watch Friday Night Lights and The Wire.

Yesterday we intended to see There Will Be Blood but when we got to the theatre we found that the new Eye Weekly film listings had lied to us. No wonder Torontoist hates them. No other showtimes worked so we had one last meal at the Biryani House in Roy’s Square. It’s closing in two weeks (moving just around the corner onto Hayden Street) to make room for 1Bloor. Mmmmm…samosas and pakoras and shrimp masala…tasty. After lunch we walked back down Church street, cleaned up a little and waited for CBGB to arrive. They joined us for dinner and a couple of tasty drinks at Smokeless Joe (hence the picture above), then back at ours for a bit.

All was going well until I woke up this morning stuffed up, with a sore throat and a pounding sinus headache. Last night I had nothing; by this morning I was deep in the throes of a cold. Shitty. I feel very unpleasant right now. As such we did next to nothing all day; I have no energy. My day has been limited to lots of basketball, football and movies.

.:.

The first movie we watched today was Stranger Than Fiction (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which, based on the ads, I’d all but dismissed as typical Will Ferrell clowning. It was, in fact, very funny, clever and sweet. Ferrell is so good at the subtle humour he showed here and in Winter Passing that it kills me to see the ads for crap like Semi-Pro. A few times in this movie I laughed out loud, and I rarely laugh at Will Ferrell movies.

We also watched Marie Antoinette (imdb | rotten tomatoes) this evening. The first half was interesting, but it completely lost steam in the second half. It was like watching a dessert cart being paraded around…it looks lovely and inspired at first, but after you stare at the same sweets for two hours it loses something. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it that much to begin with; Sofia Coppola had me in the first half, but lost me again in the second.

I forgot to blog last week about Italianetz (imdb | rotten tomatoes), yet another foreign entry at a past film festival that I wanted to see. The story was about a Russian boy set to be adopted from an orphanage by an Italian couple (hence the title) but who worries that he has a mother somewhere that, should he go to live with another couple, he’ll never see again. The plot takes him on his search for her, but the real star was Russia itself: a dirty, drunken, stormy, barren, corrupt plain of despair…that one little boy refuses to give up on. Worth watching, if you can tolerate the dodgy subtitle translations.

[tags]friday night lights, the wire, there will be blood, eye weekly, torontoist, biryani house, 1bloor, smokeless joe, stranger than fiction, marie antoinette, italianetz[/tags]

At least I still have the empty can

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As I write this I’m trapped in the den, as Nellie’s wrapping gifts in the living room. Luckily I have a TV in here and there’s a Canadiens game on, but I think I might’ve had a little too much Diet Pepsi, so it could get messy in here.

.:.

Last Friday night at Smokeless Joe was so enjoyable we returned again last night, looking for more Great Lakes Winter Ale. Unfortunately they were out, but we had some very tasty alternatives (Hacker-Pschorr Dunkle Weiss for me and some kind of Belgian Tripel for Nellie which she loved). No fear about not getting another taste of the winter ale, though: we bought a few bottles today at the LCBO.

We also got some treats for ourselves (Nellie got some Tedeschi Amarone at the LCBO, and I picked up some truffles at JS Bonbons) and for the cats (especially Sonny; his favourite toy is a little red ball that his Auntie Jenny got him years ago, and we’ve had trouble finding more of…until today and we bought five. Oh, and catnip, so they’ve been trying to crawl into their stocking all day).

.:.

I’ve never been in Toronto this close to Christmas before; it’s interesting. We went to St. Lawrence Market today to pick up a few things, and it was about six different kinds of crazy in there. It wasn’t even 10:00 yet and the crowds were so thick you’d think you were at a concert. I can’t wait to go grocery shopping tomorrow.

It’ll be really weird going to work on the 24th.

[tags]smokeless joe, great lakes winter ale, dunkle weiss, tripel, st. lawrence market, toronto[/tags]

What say, fuzzy britches?

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From CityTV:

Drive-thrus have become a way of life in car conscious Toronto, as busy GTA residents find they don’t have the time to even get out of their vehicles for a coffee or a hamburger. But what are they doing to the environment and how would you feel if local politicians made a move to either curb them or eliminate them altogether?

I’d question the environmental impact of eliminating the drive-thru. It seems to me it wouldn’t reduce the demand for coffee (could also be hamburgers, etc., but I’ll use coffee as my example here), so you’d have three net effects:

  1. People parking their car at the curb and idling while they run in for coffee. If it’s true that drive-thru wait times are less than counter wait times (and I assume it is) then the result is more pollution.
  2. People circling the block to find parking before running in; this circling means needless driving time, resulting in more pollution.
  3. The above two effects causing more traffic congestion in the vicinity of coffee shops, again resulting in more pollution.

If you believe that removing a drive-thru will reduce the overall demand for coffee, then maybe this model works (for the environment, but certainly not for the business). If you think demand would stay the same, then the model only works if you believe customers will stop driving to Tim Horton’s and will walk there instead, and I’d bet pretty hard against that.

Anyone disagree? Are my assumptions off?

And just out of curiosity, what marketing jackass invented the word thru?

.:.

From CNN:

Two inmates escaped from a county jail, hiding the holes they made in the walls by putting up photos of bikini-clad women, officials said.

Attention, all jail wardens: you might want to WATCH THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION!!

[tags]toronto drive-thrus, jailbreak, bikini posters, shawshank redemption[/tags]

Return to Thundersnow

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At 3:30 last night we were awoken by a noise on our balcony. Not the howling wind; we were used to that by the time we went to sleep around 2:00. This time it was paint cans; we’d forgotten that we’d left a box of nearly-empty paint cans out on the balcony, and the wind had finally flipped the box and sent paint cans everywhere.

It’s been that kind of storm so far: violent winds and lots of snow. I can only see the occasional intrepid (“intrepid” means stupid, right?) soul walking or driving on the streets below us. The city’s pretty much shut down. Fine by us; as I said yesterday we used yesterday to finish everything that required a trip outside. I’ve used this morning to do a little work, read my feeds, finish off a bunch of small errands and even read a chapter of corporate finance. Nothing left to do today, really, except watch the Raptors game, pick off one more chapter of my textbook and watch some movies. It should be a very relaxing Sunday.

As I wrote this I saw a few lightning flashes and heard some thunder. Huh…two thundersnows in one year.

[tags]toronto storm, thundersnow[/tags]

Near-paralyzing, even

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When Environment Canada issues warnings about “copious” and “near-crippling” amounts of snow in the next 24 hours, you know it’s about to get hairy. It’s already pretty ugly out there, but the real fun won’t start until tomorrow. As such, we’ve obtained enough provisions (read: snack food and a full PVR) for the remainder of the weekend.

C’mon, winter, do your worst. It’s fun to see Toronto brought to its knees by snow.

[tags]winter storm[/tags]