Category: Toronto

Common sense indeed

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Another pedestrian killed on Toronto streets. It’s getting scarier out there. However, it’s nice to see the police blaming the pedestrians first.

“You have to use common sense,” advised Acting Staff Sgt. Doug Surphlis of Traffic Services. “It is the festive time of year and it is important to think before you cross the road. Also, to the mot orists to be courteous to our pedestrians. Look around as well (and) be careful out there.”

Granted, this last victim was crossing at an unmarked part of the road, but in Scarborough it’s not easy for a senior with a stroller to walk all the way to a proper light.

.:.

Montreal wins (snapping their first two-game winless streak of the season) and Toronto loses (to Boston…again), so balance is restored to the sporting world.

[tags]toronto, pedestrian killed, canadiens, maple leafs[/tags]

November rain moderate temperatures

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Canadian weather is severely messed up at the moment. It’s 12 degrees in Toronto — going up to 15 tomorrow and 17 Wednesday, according to forecasts — while it snows in Vancouver. Poor Vancity…so much rain they were expecting an ark, and instead they got a blizzard.

17 degrees on the 2nd-to-last day of November…something not right about that.

[tags]toronto weather, vancouver snowfall, vancouver rain[/tags]

Bring on the downtime

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Since I’ve gotten ahead on my reading & assignments, I’ve decided not to do any school work at all until Tuesday. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

It’s a busy weekend anyway; we have dinner at Cava tomorrow night with friends and dinner with other friends on Monday. That leaves tonight and Sunday for going to movies, catching up on Deadwood (I watched 3 episodes last night) and generally lazing about.

More good news: it’s supposed to be 11 degrees tomorrow too, and my cold seems to be on the way out. Huzzah.

.:.

Spoke to my friend the constable last night. She’s loving her new job, maintaining law & order in the far north. Well…”far” is a relative word, I guess; while she’s not in Melville Island or Inuvik or even Deline, she’s further north than most people ever go. She’s certainly further north than I’ve ever been, by about 800 km. Anyway, she loves it there and she loves what she’s doing, and she’s even adopted a dog, so good for her.

[tags]slacking, the great white north[/tags]

What's the Deal With the Hulk's Pants?

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Via Cinematical we learn that Bill O’Reilly is very concerned about horror movies. What delicious irony; most of the world thinks that Bill O’Reilly is a horror movie.

.:.

Seen Reading is a very cool little blog written by Julie Wilson, set here in Toronto, where she spots what people are reading and writes about it online. I’ve found a new favourite morning read. [via Torontoist]

.:.

My brother points out why you should always read more than just one newspaper. Bonus: if you stick around for the comments, you can see him flick a narrow-minded Ontarian in the ear. Metaphorically, of course.

.:.

Right, off to dinner.

[tags]cinematical, bill o’reilly, seen reading, julie wilson[/tags]

The price of: rice-a-roni; parking; aiming high

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Bob Barker’s been hosting The Price Is Right longer than I’ve been alive, but he’s decided to hang it up next year. I bet he’ll be really good at grocery shopping.

.:.

Richmond upon Thames is one of the nicer neighbourhoods in London, and has decided to triple (or treble, depending on where you’re reading this) the parking fee for SUVs. I can’t imagine a Toronto neighbourhood like Rosedale or Hogg’s Hollow trying this.

.:.

The latest evidence that people are dumb: more of them watched CSI: Miami than watched Studio 60 (which has now been canceled). Thanks a lot, dull squishy middle.

[tags]bob barker, richmond upon thames, suv parking, csi miami, studio 60[/tags]

F**k

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

F**king Firefox just f**king crashed and I lost a huge f**king post that I’d been writing for half a f**king hour. I’m not writing that f**king thing again, so you’re getting a point f**king form version.

  • Five Doors North at Yonge & Eg isn’t very good.
  • Death Of A President was pretty good, maybe a little better than I was expecting (but not quite as good as I’d hoped)
  • Irreversible, while expertly shot, was extremely hard to watch. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can sit through graphic violence and/or prolonged rape scenes.
  • Moleskine doesn’t make a Citynotebook for Toronto, but they should.

F**k.

[tags]five doors north, toronto, death of a president, irreversible, moleskine[/tags]

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]