Category: Toronto

Accelerated fossilisation

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Time to catch up on the news:

  • London (Ontario, not England) seems like a delightful tourist destination, what with the biker gang violence and all. I am now more convinced than ever to never, ever go there.
  • ABC is starting to get it: they’re going to offer next-day streaming of their most popular shows, which is really just migrating the same content to a new medium, but at least they’re adding some flexibility to their viewing options.
  • Christopher Hume of The Star has new hope for Toronto, and the cultural renaissance he sees on the horizon.
  • This guy can kiss my pale maritimer ass. He acts recklessly, blows up some innocent and unsuspecting allies, gets off practically without consequence and then has the nerve to bitch about the way in which his country lightly slaps his wrist? Fuck him.
  • BlogTO reaffirms their membership in the ‘tear down the Gardiner Expressway‘ club.
  • Finally, and most tragically, Bow Wow and Ciara have split up. I mean, if a kid named after a dog noise and a woman dubbed “the First Lady of Crunk & B” by an overrated shitbag can’t make it in this crazy world, then who can? [tear]

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I read Confused Of Calcutta primarily for my job, as it focuses on technology, but this post went beyond work topics. It’s about change, and the rate at which it happens nowadays; people have been fearfully lamenting change ever since the loom or the printing press, but CoC’s not complaining. He’s pointing out that the era when you could take your time adjusting to market demand is gone. I like the term he uses: fossilisation. “Accelerated fossilisation”…I may have a t-shirt made. I’ll be the guy jumping up and down when I can consume media on my own schedule, in a format of my choosing. I’ll be the guy throwing a party when everyone has free internet access. I’ll be the guy doing a jig when politicians actually make decisions based on socioeconomics and not politics. I’ll toast the new world when my own company talks to me like I’m an intelligent adult (which, I’d have to think, is at least part of the reason why they hired me) and not an agitated child who needs to be soothed.

Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them. Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.   .:Arundhati Roy

Let’s get on with it.

Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age

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Reading Toronto taunts us with the idea of a high-speed Toronto-Montreal train link that could do the trip in an hour. I’d go for that, especially since we’re facing a half-hour taxi ride and an hour wait in the airport this coming weekend for a flight that only last 75 minutes. If you get it down to an hour, or even two hours, it’d be worth people’s while to take the train, especially if they made wi-fi access free.

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Varsity.co.nz lists the best and worst album titles of all time. My basketball-numbed brain can’t come up with anything worse (and it’s pretty hard to argue with “J to the LO” or “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water”) but I think Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live by Explosions In The Sky should be on the ten best list. As should Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Basically, anything by a post-rock instrumental band.
[via Largehearted Boy]

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If there’s one phrase I’d like to see stricken from common use, it’s “rap mogul“.

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Barry Bonds, Barry Bonds…I don’t know. MLB must really be shitting their pants right now; if Bonds goes on a tear this year, or sticks around (and avoids suspension) for a few more years and breaks the home run record, how big an asterisk would they have to put next to that? I mean, if they put one on Roger Maris’ record ’cause he played a few extra games, how could they not put one next to a guy who’s provoked such controversy and outrage?

No more economics

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It’s nice to have a day to relax, just space out after a week at school. Even though we were just north of the city, it feels like I’ve been in another province for five days, so it was almost like becoming reacquainted with Toronto. Read the paper, went up to Summerhill for a pile of yummy bread, did some errands, picked up dinner for tonight and came home to watch several more episodes of Six Feet Under…which is pretty much all we did last night too. We’ll burn through it by the end of the weekend at this rate; we even found time to watch the latest episode of The Sopranos last night and I caught up on tons of PVR’d shows.

83.1%

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Doopy doopy doo. Whilst I wait for inspiration to strike (I’ve reviewed and studied about as much as I feel like iI can), here’re a few interesting tidbits of news that caught my eye:

  • United 93 is premiering at the Tribeca film festival next month. It’s high on my list of must-see movies this spring, partly because of the gripping subject matter, and party because it’s directed by Paul Greengrass, whose work I enjoy immensely. I can only imagine it will draw some controversy, but it’s been 5 years since the attacks and if anyone can handle it, it’s New Yorkers. They’re not much for shying away from things.
  • Toronto, on the other hand, has been hemming and hawing about the waterfront since before I moved here. However, as Christopher Hume reports in the Star, it appears they’re taking the first steps toward the redevelopment they’ve been promising for years. However, I shall believe it when I see it.

OK. Back to studying. Or pretending to study.

Holy crapinaw!

Dan Dickinson

After years and years and years of waiting, Nellie’s wishes have finally been answered. Season one of The Young Riders has been released on DVD. I’m not kidding. She was squealing with joy as she opened the packaging.

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I’m watching the Leafs and Canadiens play on TSN. Even though the game’s in Montreal and TSN’s usually a fairly impartial network, it’s like watching the game in a Toronto bar ’cause Joe Bowen and Harry Neale are calling it.

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Just ordered our festival pass for Hot Docs. By the time I get back from my course next wek the lineup should be announced. I love Hot Docs; dollar for dollar it’s the best festival value in the city.

Constant lovers

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Spacing says the TTC is working with Google to create a usable transit map. I will be supremely happy on day that this happens.

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Seriously, anxiety or no, this kid is now the envy of everyone who’s ever had this teacher. –>

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I agree with M_Blogler: I’ve lost a bit of respect for Thom Yorke after reading this article. If he was serious about wanting to make a difference he could’ve gone through with the meeting. That said, he might know more about just how futile an exercise it’d be to meet with the PM’s handlers and doesn’t want to put himself through that. Still, it sounds a little chickenshit.

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I might have to go see these ladies when they come through town. They belt out a mean tune.

They're no here

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Ooh, almost forgot: Chromewaves’ Frank noticed that Mogwai will make a stop in Toronto after all. Like him, I think my ears have healed sufficiently since I last saw them. I shall see if M2 is up for it.

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Ever see Ripley’s Game (imdb | rotten tomatoes)? I just watched it this week; don’t even remember how it got onto my Zip list, but I’m glad it did. I liked it very much; Malkovich is better than usual here, and that’s something. I like movies with style; this one has it. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

Come to Tsukuba. We're Number 53!!

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Today was one of those days when I just didn’t sit down long enough to do anything until about 4:00. Hence, I forgot to post to Girlfriend Du Jour, forgot to update my hockey and basketball pools (costing myself some points) and haven’t posted anything to my blogs (work-related or personal). But all four of my meetings were good, I got a pile of work done between 4:00 and 7:00 and I still got home in time to watch Montreal pound Boston.

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Another by-city quality-of-life index. Toronto tied for 14th, Vancouver finished 3rd. Five Canadian cities finished in the top 25, but 3 Swiss and 3 German cities finished in the top 10. And as if I didn’t want to visit Geneva and Switzerland already, they finished 1-2.

Own the podium

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Another event, another medal for Cindy Klassen (she finished third; Clara Hughes won the gold). Five medals in one olympics. Pretty incredible. Speaking of incredible, and speaking of Clara Hughes, not many people could win two medals in olympic cycling and two medals in speed skating.

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Still on incredible women: MacLeans talks to Neko Case. She loves her some Canada, and Canada loves her back.

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We’ve had a really easy winter so far here in Toronto. I can barely remember any sustained snowfall (certainly nothing like this storm in St. John’s; I hope they got all their curling-inspired partying over with before it hit!) and very few days of really numbing cold. Still, it’s been really grey and dreary, so I can’t wait for spring.

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The Raptors tanked another one today, blowing a 28-point halftime lead over the Mavs. Well, I guess they didn’t tank it so much as Dallas just caught fire from beyond the arc. Chris Bosh is good, but he’s just not as clutch as Dirk Nowitzki. Yet.

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Economics is almost done. One last bit of reading to do, and then one last assignment; if I finish it by the middle of next week, I’ll have three weeks off before the class starts. Good thing, too; I have a trip to New York and a ton of March Madness watching planned in there.