Calgary

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Last night I got back after a 5-day excursion to Calgary, ostensibly for work but with an extra 36 hours or so thrown in for a city visit. Little did I know I’d develop a sinus infection while there. Anyway, here’s the extracurricular summary:

Beer sampled: the rooftop at the National on 8th with my now-Cowtowner friend Andrea. I had a flight of 6 locals. Beer Revolution, where I tried two local pints while having an excellent (pizza) lunch with a colleague. I also had a coffee at Kawa which, once the sun’s over the yard arm, serves a very solid beer selection; alas, I was there too early.

 

 

Coffee drunk: I had a nice little espresso at Cucina, another at Kawa, a cappuccino at Phil & Sebastian‘s Simmons Building location, a latte to go from P&S which I drank sitting by the Bow River, and…like, 8 coffees over 3 days from Monogram, which happened to be right next door to my conference hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

Food scarfed: The Catch’s Oyster Bar for some crab cakes and oysters when I landed. CharCUT for dinner my first night, since it was in my first hotel. Small world confirmation: the bartender had also gone to Dal, and her boyfriend used to work at Bishop’s Cellar and, as such, has probably sold me booze at some point. My last night there I went to Modern Steak in Kensington, which was outstanding and had a nice Irish bartender. I walked home, along the Bow for a while and then across the Peace Bridge.

 

 

 

 

Movies watched: Sicario and Eye In The Sky on the flight there. Hyena Road and most of Stories We Tell on the flight back. I had to take my headphones out for the last twenty minutes of the flight because my ears weren’t popping (never did) and I was in such severe pain.

Random thoughts thunk:

  • The Le Germain is a much better hotel than the Westin.
  • Downtown Calgary is pretty compact, but the walkability is marred by highways and rail lines bisecting the core.
  • I skipped the private rodeo organized by the conference, partly for health and partly because I despise rodeos, and don’t regret it one bit.
  • While I generally prefer an aisle seat when flying, when flying into Calgary I will always try for a window seat so I can see the mountains when I land. We did this time, and I also happened to get a smashing picture of Winnipeg from the air halfway through the flight.

Session VII

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Our seventh Session craft beer fest went off yesterday, and once again our friends Adam & Alicia joined us. Actually, they came over first to enjoy the views, do a bit of snacking, and sample a few beers before we left: Refined Fool Pouch Envy Australian Pale Ale, Left Field Sunlight Park Saison, and a phenomenal one-off Saison/rosé collaboration between Burdock and Pearl-Morissette winery. That bottle went straight to the hall of fame.

Then, off we went to Yonge/Dundas Square for the event itself. Here’s what I tried, as best I can remember:

  • Sextant “Why So Sirius?” pale ale
  • Big Rig “Great White North” hoppy wheat (collaboration w/ Central City)
  • Oast House “Haarlem Globe Trotter” koyt beer (collaboration w/ Jopen)
  • Stack vanilla chai amber
  • New Ontario “Sap Sucker” maple brown (collaboration, but not really)
  • Redline “Cruise Control” mango + lime session IPA
  • Nickel Brook “Arkells Morning Brew” coffee brett pale (collaboration w/ Detour coffee)
  • Nickel Brook “Uncommon Element” brett pale ale
  • Sawdust City “1606” barrel-aged raspberry stout
  • Sawdust City “Bitter Beauty” double IPA (collaboration w/ Jason Collett)
  • Muskoka “Ruff Draught” tropical blonde (collaboration w/ Born Ruffians)
  • Sawdust City 1606 (again)
  • Amsterdam “Revelator” Bock (collaboration w/ Jordan St John)
  • Sawdust City “Blood of Cthulhu” imperial stout

Oddly enough the Oast House was probably my least favourite, which surprised me. The New Ontario and Stack were pleasant surprises, but the 1606 was friggin’ outstanding.

We returned to our place, stopping at Batch to pick up some wings, and knocked down a few more beers (Fat Tug IPA, Great Lakes Hanlan’s Point coconut coffee porter) before calling it a night.

Overall, pretty happy with this event again. Lots of great beers, not too crowded, and unlike Cask Days I actually got every single beer I asked for. Add good friends and gorgeous weather, and it was a pretty top-notch day.

Cover photo by Seth Granville, used under Creative Commons license

“Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy.”

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Being sick, and then really sick, and then less sick, and then cold-ish, and now just slightly underpowered, has meant that I’ve had time to watch a lot of TV, including some mini-series.

I really liked The Night Manager (imdb | rotten tomatoes). I’m hit and miss with Tom Hiddleston (note: Nellie is not. She is very, very hit.) but he was terrific in this, and so was everyone else in the series. Could have done with another two episodes since the middle (middleston?) felt a bit rushed, and there were a few characters who could have done with a touch more development, but overall excellent. Very clever dialogue too.

Speaking of dialogue, Show Me A Hero (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was adapted by David Simon from Lisa Belkin’s book and it told such a deep, detailed story about one long, unbelievable (and, of course, utterly believable) story of Yonkers in the late 80s as integrated low-income housing was forced on them. Oscar Isaac was outstanding, as is often the case, and a few other surprising turns (Jon Bernthal, Winona Ryder, Catherine Keener) added to it. Recommended, especially if pneumonia fells you and you have six hours to kill.

We’ve also started watching Bloodline (imdb | rotten tomatoes) but I’m not sure yet if I like it. It could be an interesting, if slow-building, story, but apart from Kyle Chandler and Chloe Sevigny I despise literally every other major character on the show.

.:.

Cover photo by Seth Granville, used under Creative Commons license

Cover photo by Matthew Winterburn, used under Creative Commons license

“The last word always belongs to the mountain.”

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Last weekend we watched Everest (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a movie made a couple of years ago about the same disastrous attempt to summit Everest described in Into Thin Air (amazon | google play). It wasn’t necessarily a great movie (though it was lousy with Oscar nominees…5!) but I was so enthralled with the story that I downloaded Into Thin Air and read it until 3am. I finished it Monday.

Like I said, not a brilliant movie, but worthwhile. It’s fascinating to watch (or read about) these people who willingly climb into a place that is trying, by its very nature, to kill them.

.:.

Cover photo by Matthew Winterburn, used under Creative Commons license

We the north

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Last night the Cleveland Cavaliers finally finished off the Toronto Raptors, after the Raps extended them to six games. I’d hoped for a game seven, but the Cavs just put the hammer down last night, the same hammer I really thought would sweep the Raps this round. But the Raptors are the Raptors, and they don’t go quietly. And that’s why we love them.

Disappointment over getting manhandled by the Cavs aside, no one views this year as anything but a success for the Raptors. They finished second, and made it to the third round of the playoffs, extending a true contender to six games after they swept their first two opponents. And let’s face it: the Raps weren’t considered a true title contender. This team wasn’t built to win a title; after the Raptors were swept out of the first round last year by a weaker opponent, this year’s team was built to not get swept again. The season was a check mark when the Raps won their direct round series against Indiana. It was a bigger checkmark when they beat Miami in 7, Miami being exactly the kind of team they would have folded to in the past.

So now, the challenge shifts to becoming a true contending team. If they can re-sign DeMar DeRozan they’ll have the core every top team needs: 2 all-stars (DeRozan and Kyle Lowry) and a strong third option (Jonas Valanciunas), but top teams surround those guys with strong bit players and good shooters who can extend the opposition’s defense. The Raps simply didn’t have that last night, or throughout the playoffs. Terence Ross disappears in the playoffs. Luis Scola might as well not be there. DeMarre Carroll’s a good defender but probably isn’t a reliable enough outside threat. Norman Powell’s still developing.

The Raps don’t have much cap room, but they do have a high draft pick (thanks Andrea Bargnani!) so I’m hoping they can add a good power forward or backup centre to replace Bismack Biyombo, who they almost certainly won’t be able to re-sign, and manage to sign (or, more likely, trade for) some veteran shooters.

Cover photo by Thomas Riggs, used under Creative Commons license

“We are building the biggest weapon for oppression in the history of mankind.”

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Hey, remember last week when I had the flu? I miss last week. Because this week I had goddamn pneumonia. Like I’m some sort of Arctic explorer or something.

So obviously I spent the entire long weekend — the first really nice weekend we’ve had in six months — in bed. And this whole week too…I’ve been able to do a little work from home, but generally speaking this has kicked my ass. I at least got myself some antibiotics, which seem to be helping.

Whilst lying on my ass, drifting in and out of sleep, and coughing up some truly terrifying things, I did watch a few movies:

Moonrise Kingdom (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was classic Wes Anderson. Quirky, hilarious, and this surreal, mildly-alien world made out of the most mundane memories. Seriously outstanding performances from the two lead kids, and you wouldn’t hear that from me often. I can’t believe I waited this long to watch it. Next up: The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Citizenfour (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a (the?) documentary about Ed Snowden, and how he revealed himself (and his secrets) to journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras. More compelling than you might expect a technical documentary about electronic surveillance to be.

Mean Streets (imdb | rotten tomatoes) is one of a bunch of now-classic films from the golden era of Hollywood cinema (the 70s) that happens to be on demand on Bell right now. I’ve watched that, The Exorcist, All The President’s Men, and others. It’s made me finally take my copy of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls off the shelf to read. Honestly, I didn’t love this one quite as much as those others, but I will say this: Robert De Niro was barely recognizable. Hard to believe it came out only a year before Godfather II.

.:.

Cover photo by Thomas Riggs, used under Creative Commons license

Cover photo by Sandra, used under Creative Commons license

“You had three weeks. The universe was created in a third of that time.” “Well, someday you’ll have to tell us how you did it.”

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So, I’ve been sick for almost a week. Full-on flu. I had to cancel a work trip to Barcelona, which fucking sucked. I was on my back for most of the week, watching some old movies, but also a few new (to me) ones.

  • Steve Jobs (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was better than I thought it would be. The construct surprised me too — the entire movie takes places in three parts, just before Jobs goes onstage for three different product launches. In true Aaron Sorkin style it was a lot of walk-and-talks, but I think Danny Boyle added some texture by layering in flashback scenes.
  • I’m not even sure why I watched Machete (imdb | rotten tomatoes). I think I was planning on falling asleep and put on something I didn’t care about. Unfortunately I stayed awake for the whole thing.
  • The Conversation (imdb | rotten tomatoes) is a movie I really only knew because it was the lone film on John Cazale’s resume I hadn’t seen.

.:.

Cover photo by Sandra, used under Creative Commons license

 

Volo

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As Ben Johnson reported earlier this week, Bar Volo will close this fall. What a shame. Volo, more than any other place (except maybe the original Smokeless Joe) is where I learned to love great beer after first walking in ten years ago. It’s where I tried Péché Mortel for the first time. Bartenders in Amsterdam asked me about it.

Like Robin Leblanc said in her excellent “An Ode To Bar Volo“, I take comfort in knowing that they’ll re-open in some form or another. For all the great beer joints in this city, it wouldn’t feel right without Volo.

Cover photo by Anigate Cosplay, used under Creative Commons license

“That’s right! You’re about to be killed by a zamboni! You’re going to die…in five minutes!”

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Watched Deadpool (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last weekend. It was an object lesson in watching an over-hyped movie too late. I mean, sure, it was good…but it would have been better if I’d gone into it with no expectations. But I’d heard how good it was from so many people (who probably went into it with zero expectations at all) that I was a little disappointed in the end product.

Maybe just…maybe just ease back a little? 8 jokes a minute instead of 10 probably would’ve been okay, and given those 8 some room to breathe. Just an idea.

.:.

Cover photo by Anigate Cosplay, used under Creative Commons license

 

Cover photo by Tom Maglieri, used under Creative Commons license

The second round

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The last (and only) time the Toronto Raptors won a playoff series, I wasn’t even writing this blog. And I’ve been writing this blog for almost fifteen years. So.

Actually, the Raps had never won a 7-game playoff series — in 2001 they beat the Knicks in 5 before losing to Philadelphia in 7. Then came a 4-year drought, then 2 straight first-round exits, then another 5-year drought. The last two years have seen hugely disappointing first-round losses to lower-ranked opponents.

This year, finally, and barely, the Raptors survived the first round. On paper they should have beaten Indiana handily, but it took 7 games. You could see this team almost thinking they’re jinxed, but they held on, and the proverbial monkey alighted from their shoulders.

Now, in the second round, they play Miami. Again, on paper, they should win this, but Miami stole home court advantage in game 1. The Raps won game 2 and I’m hopeful that maybe they can regain their regular-season form, but…I don’t know. So far they seem tentative, almost cursed a little. Who knows, maybe they’ll pull out this series too and move on to the 3rd round and we’ll celebrate that milestone.

Right up until they play LeBron and the Cavs.

[UPDATE] They did indeed pull out that series win over the Heat and moved on to the 3rd round, and we all celebrated that milestone.

And then they played game 1 against LeBron and the Cavs.

God be with you tonight, Raptors.

.:.

Cover photo by Tom Maglieri, used under Creative Commons license