June 2009
17 posts
Day of Rest (for the rest of the day)
To celebrate the theft of my 2 wheeler, I headed out on Saturday night with my partner-in-crime Heavy D, and we started the night at the INIT art installation BBQ party (in the old Canary Restaurant building on Front St E.). After some burgers, some pretentious Germans, some beer and some fire juggling we headed out, with Paul F in tow, to join the uptown crowd at a Forest Hill backyard BBQ with...
Thievery Corporation
I had my bike ripped off yesterday. Nicked from my front porch. Purloined from my very abode. Made off with by bandits in the night. Taken from it’s rightful resting place. Stolen from it’s happy home. It was, in a word, abducted, appropriated, bagged, confiscated, filched, hijacked, kidnapped, lifted, misappropriated, pinched, pirated, poached, seized, shanghaied, snatched, and...
Garden Gnome
Work in the garden never stops. But the rewards are delicious. I have so far harvested 3 full “big salads” from my front yard herbarium. I have three kinds of lettuce growing, some spinach, some arugula, a sorrel plant, and some parsley and chives provide the accents. Fabulous! So… despite the cool nights in Toronto this year, the fruits (err, vegetables) of my labours are...
Pirates
Yesterday was all about pirating. Illegal download central, baby! But half of it wouldn’t open properly when I finally went to use it. What a gyp!!! These sites are giving piracy a bad name. I want my money back.
The COSTI of Doing Business
Yesterday I submitted (in more ways than one) to COSTI which is an Ontario government branch servicing people (like me) who wish to get free retraining at College before they venture back into the harsh and unforgiving workforce. It was a mountain of paperwork to sift through in order to apply, but now it’s all over. Whew! And if I get accepted, I may be back in school full-time starting in...
Pedestrian Sundays
Yesterday marked the first in this summer’s season of Pedestrian Sundays in Kensington Market. It was a riot yesterday. I loved it! I saw a few great musical acts (and some lousy ones), hung out in the hippie park playing hula hoop, and walked the avenues (avec mon ami Régine) with little worry of getting hit by an oncoming car. Bikes, strollers and unicyclists, however, are another story.
May 2009
33 posts
The Perennial Gardener
Yesterday I splurged on three potted perennial flowers. It was like $45 and change. Which I should NOT be spending these days. But the reason is that my old Portuguese landlady is missing having flowers in her garden. She let me take over the gardens (back and front) when her husband passed away 2 years ago, but since I just grow edibles - lettuce, herbs, and legumes - she says “we look like...
Rent... NOT the Broadway Musical
Summer is coming, and with it comes the impending departure of my landlady Ondina. She will be spending 3 months in Portugal, and that gives me run of the whole 3-story house that I live in. I only rent the top floor normally, but come July I’ll have a lot more room to stretch out in. Even if it is quite badly decorated. So anyway, I am presently searching for someone to rent out my second...
Planting & Yakking
Yesterday I planted some seedlings in the garden. Even though it keeps getting cold at night. C’mon Toronto… it’s almost June!
But the real big news is that we were interviewed on CIUT fm (the University of Toronto’s campus radio station) about our upcoming Living With Jane show at The Horseshoe on Wednesday. Alex, Karen and I were there for the spot on Brent...
All Decked Out
Yesterday was indeed my bon anniversaire and spent me berfday having lunch with a few pals on the charming back patio at the excellent Gamelle restaurant (at College and Markham). Then we took over Damian’s roof deck for a sangria party that went from 3pm till dark. A lovely sleepy sunny vibe permeated the day and a low key good time was had by all.
Do I really have to wait 365 days to do...
Gin and Bear It
Last night my pal Melanie C took me to a gin tasting party for the new Canadian gin brand Victoria Gin (operating out of Vancouver). Needless to say, I got tanked. But it was a swell little party, and I met one of the owners, and I had some yummy venison snacks, so it was a night well wasted (in both senses of the word). On the way home I had an odd run in with a classic Toronto welfare-woman...
Drowning in Paperwork
Attempting to qualify for a government skills development program (where they send yer sorry ass back to college for training), is a job unto itself. Mountains of paperwork must be waded through, and the creative manipulation of information and fact is ongoing. And it’s not even a sure thing I’ll qualify. But I try. What else am I gunna do? Oh ya… buy Lotto 649 tickets…
Getting Whacked at Raq & Waq
I shot some pool last night with a pal o mine who it turns out is a real shark. And she’s just a wee girl so getting beaten by her is mighty humbling. We had 7 games over at the Raq N Waq (Queen & Euclid) and man o man did I get whalloped! She beat me every single time. I almost won one game, but I sunk the 8 ball in the wrong pocket on the final shot. But I regard that as a...
Art Opening - Intersection Closing
Last night I trucked out to the Goodwater Gallery (234 Queen St E) to catch the latest show opening, and quaff a few pints with friends, but on the way there my streetcar got rerouted by a “disturbance” at Queen and Yonge so it took me almost 1 hour to a couple of KMs along Queen St. Oy!! I got caught in the first big Tamil Tiger roadblock last Sunday coming back from Etobicoke, so I...
Website Almost Back to Normal
I have half of it uploaded to the new host, but suddenly it won’t accept anymore files. Weird…. Sometimes I HATE the internet.
Yesterday evening after rehearsal I caught the tail end of Lenni Jabour’s show at The Cameron House Bar. A couple of new songs and some old faves too. I just love her!
Caught in the Web Web
My website has been down for the last few days and won’t be going back up until I get a new host site so for the last few days no posts (since my blog is connected to my website). But now, lo and behold, I have a new URL. Too bad it’s all just the same old content.
Day Off
I spent yesterday decompressing from my movie marathon at a great little coffee house on the east side called Bisogno (61 Sherbourne, between King and Adelaide). It’s amazing how 4 hours can slide by so fast, with the help of several strong espressos. I tried to get some paperwork done but I also downloaded the new Tori Amos disc, seeing as how I had access to some nice high-speed...
Star Power
I met the star of the HotDocs film 65_RedRoses on Friday night, at an industry party, and so I figured I should go see her film the next day. And it was well worth it. Plus she is so unbelievably lovely, that watching her for 90 minutes on screen (and 15 minutes onstage doing a Q&A) was trés easy on the eyes. But she’s also a pretty amazing spirit. Her name is Eva Markvoort and she...
Winding Down on the Town
Day whatever-it-is of HotDocs and I am winding down (literally, figuratively and, it seems, mentally). I saw 2 screenings yesterday, bringing my overall total to 19. The first one, Wild Art, was good but not great. But the second one though was a complete disaster. Not the film, but my own idiocy in attending inattentively. I wanted to see 2 films, but both were screening at 7:15pm. So I decided...
Day 7 of HotDocs (not a day of rest)
I saw two more HotDocs screenings yesterday, and although I am fully flushed with film fest fever, the biggest thrill was finally jamming with my new honeycomb gold “fake” Telecaster guitar at band practice last night. It sounds very good, and got a 4 star rating from me bandmates.
As for the films… Broke, in the afternoon was quite good. It focusses on a crusty old Jewish...
Day 6 - Information Overload
Day 6 of the HotDocs Festival and already I am losing steam. But I boldly press on. Yesterday I caught 2 screenings, the first of which was the amazing Diary Of A Times Square Thief. The film begins when a Dutch filmmaker buys a discarded diary on eBay, and then becomes captivated with the mystery writer, known only as John, who lived in the seedy Times Square area of New York City in the late 80s...
In The Shadow of a Billionaire
Yesterday I stuck to my 3-a-day HotDocs regimen. I saw Inside Hana’s Suitcase in the early afternoon (very moving), and Art & Copy in the late afternoon (very interesting). But then late last night I saw my 9th film so far which is entitled Shadow Billionaire. It’s a great film, and a very fascinating doc about Larry Hillbloom who is the founder of DHL couriers and is/was a...
