Category: Toronto

Four things that grabbed my attention today

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1. A documentary called The Bridge. It’s about the Golden Gate Bridge, and specifically about all the suicides that happen there. The documentary consists mostly of footage from cameras set up to record the bridge continually for a year. It sounds morbid and voyeuristic, but if you watch the trailer I don’t think it comes across that way. It sounds like a fascinating look at a part of human behaviour that I just can’t get my head around. [via The Movie Blog]

2. A polemic from Christopher Hume against the NIMBY Toronto masses who light their torches and form a mob every time a building over 20 stories is proposed, lest it create shade in their neighbourhood. [via Spacing]

3. A new word: depletist. Invented (apparently) by some students at the Ontario College of Art & Design, it’s definition is as follows: “1) An individual or group showing apparent, negligent, or reckless disregard for the environmental consequences of their actions. 2) An individual or group that exhausts non-renewable resources and rejects positive environmental strategies.” I like it. Very much. Well done, OCADets. [via Reading Toronto]

4. A cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” by Jose Gonzalez (well, by Junip, which is Jose’s new band). Check it out if you can.

[tags]bridge documentary, suicide, golden gate bridge, christopher hume, toronto architecture, depletist, reading toronto, ocad, jose gonzalez, junip, ghost of tom joad[/tags]

How not to take a loss

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This plane crash story from New York is getting weirder and weirder.  There’re now reports that Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was on the plane when it crashed into the building. I’d heard it was his plane, but apparently they’ve now found his passport near the wreckage.

Was he just really broken up about the ALCS loss to Detroit?

.:.

I see that Americans, having run out of foods to deep-fry, have begun deep-frying Coke. Brilliant. [via Joe]

.:.

I’m always angry at myself for not going to see art and photography exhibits, so I’m going to try really hard to see the World Press Photo 2006 exhibit at BCE place before the 22nd. [via Torontoist]

.:.

More pictures tonight if I have a chance.

[tags]cory lidle, new york plane crash, deep-fried coke, word press photo 2006[/tags]

Far coast: long shot?

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Today, on a short excursion to get my first fresh air in a week I walked by the new Far Coast coffee store that opened on Bloor. They were having some big shindig at the top of St. Thomas street. BlogTO popped in for a closer look (and taste) but I couldn’t handle anything more hectic than Whole Foods this afternoon.

One interesting angle is that Far Coast is owned by Coke, and this is obviously their foray into Starbucks territory. Two 800 lb gorillas duking it out, but they’re in the Seattle gorilla’s wheelhouse. I guess we’ll see if the Atlanta gorilla can get in the game.

[tags]far coast coffee, coke, starbucks, blogto[/tags]

Catch a downloadable Star

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Very interesting idea by the Toronto Star (or maybe they copied it…I don’t pay much attention to the newspaper business) to offer a free PDF version of an afternoon paper for download, delivered to your inbox at 3:30 (or 4:15 if you want business news too). I like this idea for two reasons: 1) it shows the Star is thinking about…well, something new; 2) it might help to cut down on the unholy mess of free daily newspapers in our subway system. Each day, twice a day — after the morning and evening commutes — tens of thousands of those things are abandoned on subway seats and floors, stuffed into garbage cans, and left scattered about TTC stations. Of course, anybody who gets this daily email will likely just print the PDF, but since it’s not bound hopefully they’ll just print the pages they want; at the very least, it’s less paper consumed (and strewn about) than one of those daily rags.

Well done, Star.

[tags]toronto star, star p.m.[/tags]

The sweet, dry hereafter

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My wife, bored of writing about the condo only every few months, has set up a new blog with the intention of recounting more of her adventures (and TV watching habits, presumably). She’s also graduated to a real blog software: WordPress. Go say hello, ever’body.

.:.

Today, as I hurried toward Summerhill station to escape the rain, I walked by Atom Egoyan and his wife Arsinée Khanjian (at least, I assume it was her; I didn’t get a good look) who’d ducked under some cover. They are both very tiny.

[tags]nelliedee, atom egoyan, arsinee khanjian[/tags]

Even harder than globalization

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You know what’s a hard word to type? “Declaration.” Doesn’t look that tricky, but every time I type it I fumble for a second. And since the Doha declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health is a major part of my paper I’ve been typing it every few minutes.

Speaking of the topic, it’s ironic that I’ve been far too busy the past few days to catch up on the news of what’s happening at the AIDS conference here in Toronto, where these issues have been front and centre. A few blocks away, what I’m writing about is being discussed by some of the most knowledgeable people in the world…yet here I sit, too busy with academia to notice.

[tags]doha declaration, TRIPS, Toronto AIDS conference[/tags]

4.48 Psychosis

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Damn. It’s already gone by, and I was too busy anyway, but I’d liked to’ve seen this Summerworks play: 4.48 Psychosis. I was attracted to it partly because it got a great review in Now Magazine, but also because a very cool Tindersticks song was based on the original play itself and even the song is haunting. It sounds horribly dark and disturbing; I regret not trying to see it.

[tags]4.48 psyychosis, tindersticks, summerworks[/tags]

Ode to Whitby

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The Scotsman and his fiancé made a return visit to Toronto yesterday, and I met up with them for dinner and a few drinks. I took them to Smokeless Joe’s for a bite to eat and a few pints. Around 7:45 we realized they weren’t going to make the 8:13 train to Whitby (where they were staying) especially since it would’ve meant someone chugging their Delirium Tremens so they decided to catch the next one at 9:13 and have another drink while we waited. It turns out I may have underestimated the amount of time it takes to get from Smokeless Joe’s to Union Station, ’cause we arrived a few minutes too late. Anyway, there was nothing left to do but have another drink, so we scooted around the corner to the Irish Embassy and had a quick quaff (during which I learned that The Scotsman is prone to being labelled “a hottie” by teenage girls) before hauling ass back down to the train station.

This time we made it with ten minutes to spare, and I accompanied them up to the GO platform (as I’d never seen it before). It was crowded with drunken 905ers anxious to get back to Whitby (and environs), some wearing cowboy hats & sombreros, others drinking Malibu rum straight from the bottle, and still others complimenting The Scotsman’s sporty new man bag and asking how much he’d paid for it. I feel safe in saying that any urge I might’ve once had to visit Whitby has now been quashed.

It was a fun few hours, and I can see from my IM client that they’re made it back home. Now I’m trying to figure out how we can squeeze in a visit to New York next year. Perhaps there’s a museum of occupation there that The Scotsman’s missus could take us to; I hear it’s her speciality.

.:.

Today’s been nice so far…great weather, happily snoozing cats (both the vomiting and the limping have subsided for now), some relaxation before a) Nellie gets home, and b) I have to get back to my term paper.

[tags]scotsman, whitby, go train, malibu rum, man bags[/tags]

Why can't they ever vomit on, say, the kitchen floor?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Here I was, having a good weekend, and suddenly whammo…cat problems. Last night, around 1:00, one of the cats pukes all over my laptop bag. Seriously, it’s like he aims for personal items. Trying to clean everything out of the bag and wash it off while still half asleep was buckets of fun. Then this morning I woke up to find the other cat limping; I guess he did something to his foot/leg overnight. Probably beat the crap out of his brother a little too emphatically. I’ll watch it for a day or so and take him to the vet if it doesn’t get better.

.:.

Today’s idiots: Dr. Ted Baehr, who claims Talladega Nights makes fun of Jesus [via Yes But No But Yes], and the lady who thinks the tree in her backyard is gurgling out “God’s water”.

.:.

Another great picture from Sam at Daily Dose of Imagery. You can actually see our building under construction a few blocks to the southwest.

[tags]cats, vomit, injured paw, ted baehr, talladega nights, god’s water, daily dose of imagery, moss park[/tags]