7 November 2006, terribly early in the morning
The Political Party was packed. The Revival, a fairly big space, was full to the brim of people. I arrived around 8:00, minutes before Jane Pitfield took the stage, and was stuck at the very back of the building. Considering the place was so packed, I was surprised to bump into Himy Syed again. He was filming the event on his little camera, and gave me a flyer for an event for Un-Incumbents. It takes place tomorrow at 10:00 AM — so I’m not exactly sure who’ll be free to attend. I imagine it should be interesting, as it showcases several challengers for city council seats. We spoke briefly as Pitfield had already started talking when we noticed each other.
I felt a bit sorry for Jane Pitfield. She was clearly in Miller territory. No one would really clap for anything she had to say, regardless of whether it was sensible or not. People were pretty rude as well, snickering and laughing at some of the things she said. Most of the time she was on stage, a stupid bicyclist wouldn’t stop ringing a bicycle bell. This really took away from the event as a whole: it was a big Mayor Miller love in, which is kind of boring. Clearly people were there to support Miller and hear him speak. I think most people were annoyed Pitfield was there at all. I don’t agree with Pitfield on a lot of issues, and I won’t be voting for her, but the fact she gave up a safe seat on city council to run against a very popular mayor is something that deserves some respect.
Jane Pitfield said what she had to say, and then there was a short intermission. I used this time to try and move up as close to the front as I could get. (I made it right to the front.) On the way there, I spotted Sanaz and Yasmine. Right behind them were Colin and Lakme. I seem to bump into Colin at all sorts of random spots in the city. We all chatted while waiting for David Miller to take the stage.
Miller took the stage after the short break. He is a commanding and charismatic figure. His opening speech was quite good, and he did an excellent job of answering the questions presented to him by the panel. He was lucky in that he didn’t have to deal with the same sort of crowd Pitfield did: people laughed at his jokes, and clapped at what he had to say. I agree with pretty much everything Miller has to say, and clearly the downtown crowd did as well. At one point he was asked about placing a toll on the Gardiner and DVP, to which he gave a long answer and well thought answer on how doing so would be unfair. This didn’t play well to the crowd who probably don’t use the DVP all that much. This was one of the few times during the night where Miller had to deal with a negative reaction from the crowd. Rather than pander, he reiterated that he wouldn’t put tolls on the roads. It was nice to see him stick to his guns. More so, I agree 100% with his reasoning. If you are from Scarborough, taking the TTC into work really isn’t the better way at all. We have such crap access to transit that many people are compelled to drive to get anywhere. After hearing them both speak, Miller is still the person I hope wins on the 13th. Miller struck me as being in a totally different league than Pitfield. I agree with his vision for the future of the city. My hope is he get more of it done in his second term in office.
I’m betting Emm Gryner and her new band were wicked awesome. I probably should have stayed to see them play; I’m such an idiot.
I’ve posted photos from the event on my Flickr account.
Toronto | Current Events
6 November 2006, lunch time
I had always thought heritage designations for buildings existed to protect them from being demolished. If the city had some old-ass building it wanted to protect, because it was pretty or historically significant, the city could label it a heritage site and save it from the wrecking ball. Apparently I am naive, because Shima emailed me a list of heritage sites that have been demolished over the years. 168 buildings seems like a lot of buildings to me.
[3] Toronto
Son, they shook, ‘cause ain’t no such things as halfway crooks
scared to death, scared to look
they shook, ‘cause ain’t no such things as halfway crooks
scared to death, scared to look
livin’ the live that of diamonds and guns
there’s numerous ways you can choose to earn funds
some of ‘em get shot, locked down, and turn nuns
cowardly hearts end straight up shook ones
he ain’t a crook son, he’s just a shook one
— Shook Ones Part II by Mobb Deep
3 November 2006, lunch time
The Beaconsfield, has good burgers. Actually, most of the items on the menu looked pretty good, but Heather felt we should definitely get the burgers: she had heard good things about them. We both drank Amsterdam Blondes and talked, while waiting for Shima and Ali to arrive. Heather will be off in London soon, leaving Matt as the sole friend I stole from Tyler to remain in the city. I’d start singing All By Myself , but I’m not quite all alone just yet. Ali and Shima arrived a short while later, and not too long after that our food arrived. The burgers were really good; Heather had not been misinformed. Ali ordered a burger as well, though not before telling us about his new healthy life-style. The Beaconsfield started to fill up as we made out way out. We all walked over to the Gladstone to see a small art exhibit taking place on the second floor of the hotel. The Gladstone has changed a lot since the last time I was there. The interior is quite nice. We wandered around for a bit, enjoying the art. And then were back on the street. And then we were all home.
Life | Toronto
1 November 2006, terribly early in the morning
K-OS at the Mod Club
The K-OS concert was filled with several pleasant surprises. Mageneta Lane were one of the opening acts, and I can’t say enough good things about them. The other opening act, a black man with a guitar, who could belt out some wicked Hendrix and Marley, was also awesome. (That fellow should be famous.) Finally, there was K-OS himself, who was quite the showman. It was a very creative concert, totally not what I was expecting.
The Mysterious Opener
A black dude in a suit and fedora saunters out on to the stage. He’s carrying an acoustic guitar. He sits down and starts asking the crowd if they’re ready to have a good time, if they’re going to party, if they’re ready for some rock and roll, etc, etc — regular opener sort of stuff. Only he has I don’t give a fuck aurora about him, and he’s swearing a healthy amount. I had a feeling his show was going to be good. He started off by playing some Bob Marley. Someone screamed “Hendrix!” and he quickly switched to playing Purple Haze. He played the intro to Stairway to Heaven, though I think this was meant to be funny more than anything else. After this little introduction of sorts, he started playing his own stuff, which was great. So I ask you Internet: What was his damn name?
Magneta Lane
My favourite girl band of the moment, Magneta Lane, were up next. This was a very pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect a rock trio to open for K-OS. They played a fairly long set consisting mostly of songs from their new album. I’m not sure if anyone knew who they were or not, but most people seemed to like them all the same. I think Torontonians are polite enough anyway that they’ll sit through an opening act they aren’t impressed with and not raise too big a ruckus. They didn’t play Their Party Days, which was a shame, but they did end the set with Daggers Out, which I like quite a bit. If you haven’t heard anything by Magneta Lane you are really missing out.
K-OS
K-OS’ set was very different from what I was expecting. It was certainly a fair bit different than the set he put on at the Amphitheater. There was a heavy rock influence to everything he played. It’s like he decided to do covers of his own music. I liked it a lot. I recognized much of the band from the last concert. They were all playing just as good as the last time I saw them. K-OS’ band features a really killer DJ that scratched the hell out of several records, and an awesome Indian percussionist who played a very nice tabla solo. It was a pretty long set, and featured music from all of his albums. (Most of the stuff was new, of course.) My feet were killing me by the end of the night. Shima and Ali, who I went to the show with, were equally tired. When his set ended, Ali went off to get our coats — and chat up the girls from Magneta Lane — while Shima and I cheered for more music. (Well I cheered anyway.) The band came out for an encore, and played his latest single Sunday Morning. And with that the night was over.
[2] Music | Toronto
30 October 2006, lunch time
Final Fantasy 12 is out this week. I haven’t been a big Final Fantasy fiend in a while. I like the old games just fine, but I haven’t played any of the post-SNES games to completion. I’ll usually make it to the end, or close to the end, and then get my brother, who is a Final Fantasy fiend, to finish the game with his quest so I can see how the story plays out. World of Warcraft is fun and all, but I find the lack of a real story a bit of a suck. It’s all a bit mindless. I’m not sure if this is the case with all MMORPGs or not. It is certainly something I miss coming from playing games like Final Fantasy. No doubt my brother will be in line buying this game tomorrow; I expect to hear about how it is the next best thing ever shortly.
[3] Video Games
27 October 2006, lunch time
The inline keyword is used in C++ as a hint to the compiler that a function you are writing should not be treated as a normal function, but should instead be treated as a macro. When the compiler encounters a call to such a function in the source code it is processing, it will replace that function call with the function’s source code, its body. This _should _ make your program faster. (A function call is a slightly involved process.) You inline a function by prefixing its definition with the keyword inline.
Read the rest of this post. (385 words)
[2] Code | Nerd Alert
26 October 2006, lunch time
Wearing a veil in the west really has the opposite effect it is supposed to have: It draws more attention to a women, not less. This is the argument Zaiba Malik tries to make in her op-ed, The veil: too obviously hidden . I don’t think she makes a good case though. All she seems to discuss is how much more racist British people were towards her while she was wandering around covered up. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to not wear such restrictive clothing. Personally, I don’t consider trying to appease ignorant people one of them. “Avoid Racism: Blend in!” That’s a slogan they should print on posters and hang up in East London. I am left wondering what exactly her article is supposed to be a comment on.
[1] Current Events
24 October 2006, lunch time
I watched the The Illusionist last night. I haven’t seen the Prestige just yet, but I suspect that if you are going to watch one film about magicians operating in the late 19th century, make sure its not the Illusionist. I didn’t think it was particularly good. It stars Edward Norton, who I felt did a pretty so-so job in the film. Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell did much better jobs with their roles. Even Jessica Biel couldn’t save the film. It just wasn’t that interesting. (I would have liked the film more if Ed Norton’s first lines were: “Look, I’m not my father. I don’t do cabinets. I’m an illusionist. That’s who I am. That’s what I do.”)
The official The Illusionist web site.
[2] Movies
23 October 2006, early afternoon
Crumpler opened up a store in West Queen West, which I stumbled upon last time I was in the area. It was closed that day, so I decided to check it out this past Sunday, while I was in the area meeting up with Tyler. I wasn’t planning on going, especially since it was a dreary rainy day, but I’m not usually out in West Queen West so I felt it best to make the most of my time there.
The store is filled with bags on shelves, a giant piano, and not much else. It might look like a chic boutique if not for the fact the bags are so funky. The day I was there, two people were working, and the store was otherwise empty. Everyone was quite nice, but I knew what I wanted, so I didn’t really need their help picking something. I ended up leaving the store with a 5 Million Dollar Home bag. It was quite roomy, and felt it’d fit my camera and massive lens just fine, with room to spare for my other stuff. I trekked home in the rain.
Home again, I filled my new bag with my camera stuff. To say the bag was a bit too huge for my needs would be an understatement. I seemed to have greatly over estimated just how big my camera was. I called up Crumpler and explained I didn’t need such a giant bag. They said I could exchange it today, or during the week if I felt like it. I looked out my window; it was still raining. I sighed.
One subway and one street car later I was back on Queen, walking West. My 5 Million Dollar Home was filled with the camera gear I wanted my camera bag to hold. I got to the store and apologized for being such a flake while the fellow who sold me my bag went and grabbed me a 4 Million Dollar Home. I stuffed my gear into my new bag, and was back on my way. The people at the Crumpler store were still quite nice.
The bag is quite nice. It’s padded, which is a step up from the messenger bag stuffed with t-shirts which I was using since getting my new lens. It fits my camera with the Canon 17-40mm f/4 L lens just snuggly, with room for another stubby lens. (In my case, this lens is the Canon 50mm f/1.8.) You may be able to fit a lens slightly larger than this one. I can also fit the lens hood for the Canon 17-40mm f/4 L if need be, and my camera’s charger. I don’t normally carry those things around. There is a small pockets on the front of the camera, which would fit memory cards and what not nicely. There is also a mess pocket on the inside of the flap of the bag. In short, there is plenty of space to put stuff.
Its a comfortable bag, and if it lasts a long while, I’d say it is well worth the money. At $70, it is a bit pricey for a camera bag in my opinion, but I am happy with it so far. (All of one day!)
[4] Life | Photography
What makes a man turn neutral ... Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?
—Zapp Brannigan
20 October 2006, early afternoon
I thought this wasn’t a political debate.
Shima and I attended a talk last night at the Theatre Centre — it’s part of that gorgeous building at the corner Dovercourt and Queen. In attendance were 2 candidates from our ward, Adam Giambrone and Simon Wookey. Shima informed me that the remaining guests were also worth paying attention to: they were John Sewell, who is apparently a bit of a planning superstar, but is better known for being a former mayor of Toronto (before my time), and Adam Vaughan, who was a journalist for City TV.
It was a very interesting discussion…. which i’ll write about not later today.
You can see more photos of this talk over at my Flickr account.
Himy Syed
The night ended with Shima and I meeting the infamous Himy Syed. He makes some very cool outdoor art projects. It’s strange meeting someone that you met online through your weblog. He used to post the occasional comment here.
Right now Himy Syed is putting all his energy into running for deputy mayor, and councilor for Ward 19. And does the man have some energy. Shima and I chatted with him for a good while; he told us about all the things he wants to do in the city. He’s a very creative and unconventional politician to be. I’m really hoping he wins the ward. It’d be nice to have some different voices in office. (If you live in Ward 19, vote for him. I’m not kidding.)
It’s interesting to see how contenders find ways to challenge the incumbents. Himy has no where near the funds of the incumbant Joe Pantalone. He argues there isn’t much point trying to campaign the same way as Pantalone, because its a game he can’t win. Instead Himy’s campaign has been very grass roots. He goes to events like this, meets people, and encourages them to talk about him. His website is slowly being filled to the brim with information. He has PDF files you can download if you want to make your own flyers to advertise for him. (You print them out at 8 by 10, and they can be arranged in various ways to make bigger posters.) His buttons are all made out of older buttons. (I think Shima’s friend Tiff would love how he is so mindful of waste and the environment.) It will be interesting to see if this approach works; I think it could in a ward like Ward 19. It certainly will be a tough race, as I understand Pantalone is well liked.
[5] Toronto | Current Events
18 October 2006, mid-afternoon
The Burning Crusade special edition expansion is $100 in Canada (at least at Best Buy). $100? I couldn’t believe it myself. I mean, I like my World of Warcraft, but I don’t know if I like it that&nbs; much. That’s a lot of money to drop for the privilege of having the game on DVD and getting a Burning Crusade mouse pad. I’m not the only person who thinks it’s a bit much for an expansion:
“I’m still on the fence about this CE. I might make a half-hearted effort to get a pack o’ nerd-swag; I might not. If they were giving out something worthwhile for the $$ like a 24-slot bag, I’d kill my own mother to get ahold of one. Hell, she’s had a good run and she knows how important bag space is in this game.” — Foton over at AFK Gamer
The fancy box would look nice on my bookshelf I suppose. Amazon.ca isn’t selling it for some strange reason. The EB Games at Dufferin Mall won’t answer my calls. Update: The dude I finally got a hold of at the EB Games in Dufferin Mall sounded like a bit of a dumbass — he was totally clueless anyway. The game is supposed to be out at the end of November, though many people have their doubts.
Mind you, I’m still 16 levels away from level 60, which means I really don’t need to rush to get this expansion.
[4] World of Warcraft
18 October 2006, lunch time
The fire alarm had been set off sometime in the evening where I lived. I arrived home to find people standing around outside. I chatted a bit, read a bit, and then decided to walk down Bloor and check out the shops where I live. There are a couple restaurants that looked promising, some Ethiopian places for example, but for the most part, from Lansdowne to Ossington that strip of Bloor is pretty sad. There are several boarded up shops on this part of Bloor, and those that aren’t boarded up just aren’t the sort of shop you pop into while walking down the road. There are lots of pubs and bars along this strip that might be cool. I’ll need to check them out next time I’m out with some people. Hanging out at a bar by yourself just isn’t that much fun. Some people in the area think Dufferin Mall sucked a lot of the life out of the strip. Not living in the area way back in the day, I can only imagine what it was like then. Zoinks has moved into the neighbourhood. It’s a used book and music shop. It has a pretty good selection of used books, but I am too used to paying bargain basement prices at U of T book sales. I don’t know if I can bring myself to pay $9 bucks for a beat up copy of Notes of a Native Son. (Actually, knowing me, I probably can.) I’m hoping more shops like it move into the area. I found a good Portages Chicken place right near the West most exit of Ossington Station. This was as far East as I walked; finding that shop made the whole trip worthwhile.
[1] Life | Bloor and Lansdowne
17 October 2006, the wee hours
I asked the people on the DigIn mailing list what used to be on the lot my condo was built on. The first response I got informed me that in recent years it was just an empty construction lot. Many years prior to that, it looks like there may have been a small factory here, as can be seen in the photo below.
The scary thing is, in the past 70 years, the area hasn’t changed that much. If anything, it looks worse for wear. The storage building on the right is very dilapidated now. The bridge is still pretty ugly. I’m not sure what you could do to liven it up.
Update: Here is a photo I took of the same strip of Bloor, which shows how little the area has changed.
[3] Life | Bloor and Lansdowne
16 October 2006, lunch time
To say this past weekend was busy would be an understatement. I’ll have to say more about how I spent my Saturday at some point in time. Sunday I spent all over town—once I woke up. Carvill, Patrick, Mezan and I had lunch at Maggie’s, which is a very good brunch place. Normally it is quite packed, but if you eat at 4:00 in the afternoon the lunch crowd really thins out. We followed that with a trip to Queen West to find a store called Grreat Stuff, which we never actually saw. (It turns out we stopped heading West just before reaching the shop.) We did see some cool, expensive-ass, clothes though, so it wasn’t all for naught. I saw a pea coat that fit quite nice, which is usually enough of a reason for me to buy it. I’m thinking hard about going back to get it some time this week. (My hope is that a coat that fits me so well can’t possibly fit anyone else in the city.) If this post about my Sunday is particularly boring, you can always look at photos of the day out.
Life
11 October 2006, early evening
You may recall I had long hair some time back in October. I actually got it trimmed shortly after posting that message, and it looked pretty dreadful; so dreadful in fact that I put off getting my hair cut for the next 10 to 11 months. I had a huge mane of hair that looked pretty ridiculous. To keep it all manageable, I started wearing my newsboy cap again. I’ve had it since I was in grade 11, and my dad owned it for 15 or so years before that. It is starting to show its age. Some of my friends think that cap is too beat up to be worn outside. I would disagree, I think it is very stylish—very derelict. (An aside: If you see people wearing beat up newsboy caps, I have been doing it for ages now, ergo they are poser-wannabes.) You can only go so long with really long hair before you need to make a decision to grow it out all the way, or to cut it short again.
I decided I needed a hair cut, and went about making arrangements to get one: basically I didn’t do anything but say I needed a hair cut for about 2-3 months. I asked one of my coworkers for her hair dressers number: she’s a bit of a fashionista, so I figured her hair dresser would be really good. “You still haven’t made an appointment!” was what she said to me in response to my query. She then got on her phone and called up the salon to make me an appointment. (She’s the executive assistant where I work, which is a job that requires you be a lot more proactive than I am it seems.) After some negotiating, it was decided I’d get my hair cut at 5:00 that day. The salon was downtown, so I would need to leave work an hour early—to get a hair cut.
I walked into my bosses office. “Is it OK if I leave early today?”
“Sure, sure. Go. Go Go.” I think he felt I just wanted to duck out for the long weekend. My boss is a very understanding sort of fellow.
I wanted to explain I wasn’t trying to get an early start on the long weekend. “I need to get a hair cut, and they can only fit me in at 5:00.”
My boss looked at my long ridiculous hair and laughed.
I have short hair now.
[3] Life
10 October 2006, early evening
I was reading my RSS feeds in Bloglines today when I saw my name in big letters in the Daring Fireball feed. “Wow,” I though, “I wonder what I did to get written about in Daring Fireball.” I read the title more closely: Reminder for Ramanan Sivaranjan: Daring Fireball membership expires on October 26. It’s been a whole year since I bought my Daring Fireball membership. He was the second blogger I decided to support, the first was Jason Kottke. I think Kottke’s Micropatron idea was a failed experiment; I didn’t really enjoy the feel of the site the whole year he was reader supported. I’d say kottke.org has a much warmer feel since Jason added ads and stopped with this patronage business—which, if you think about it, seems kind of backwards. Not that I regret donating to his cause, I liked the whole idea of quiting work to blog. Gruber’s site on the other hand has only gotten better since he started doing it full time, supported by ads and his readers. I don’t regret the money I coughed up last year, and i’ll most definitely renew my membership again this year; I steal so many links from Daring Fireball its nice to have them show up in Bloglines.
[1] Weblogs
Dude with a plain white plastic bag: Hey, do you wanna buy a cellphone?
Me: No thanks, man.
—At the corner of Bloor and Lansdowne
3 October 2006, early morning
MOO is a company that makes tiny business cards that feature photos from your Flickr stream. I ordered a free 10-pack of cards from them as part of a promotion they ran to announce the service. They gave away 10,000 cards (in sets of 10) to Flickr Pro users.
The cards arrived today. They came in a small envelope. Inside the envelope was a colourfull card, with a little slot that contained the 10 cards I ordered.
On the back of the card was a short message explaining what the cards were all about.
The first card was a message indicating I was MOO’s new best friend. Nice.
The cards are on thick slices of cardboard. The prints aren’t bad; they look like the sort of thing a fancy ink-jet printer might produce. Some prints turned out quite nice, but for several the colours seem a bit flat, and the contrast a bit lacking.
The back of the card can be customized with a short message of your choice. These could make neat calling cards. You can order a set of 100 cards for $20 USD. This sounds pricey for small business cards, but then again they look cool and don’t require any design effort whatsoever on your part.
[6] Technology | Photography
Please could you stay awhile to share my grief,
For it’s such a lovely day,
To have to always feel this way,
And the time that I will suffer less,
Is when I never have to wake.
—Wandering Star by Portishead
27 September 2006, late morning
While playing World of Warcraft, I stumbled upon a Zealot blade, which was hidden in a locked box I’ve had in my possession for ages and ages. I found a rogue who’d open the box, and the sword was what I found inside. Auctioneer told me I was going to be rich. I thought to myself, “I’m rich, beeyotch.” What I’ll do with my new found wealth, I’m not sure. I might help underprivileged trolls or something.
World of Warcraft | Nerd Alert
26 September 2006, late morning
I’m halfway through the 5th season of the Soprano’s. I started watching the show during the 3rd season. I was hooked; it’s an amazing show. I went back and watched the 2nd, which they were showing at the same time, and then waited patiently for David Chase to make the 4th season.
My family had canceled TMN by the time that season premiered, so I had to order it again. There were ads all over the city advertising the premiere of the 4th season. I put off getting TMN till the last possible moment. I’m an idiot like that.
I called up Rogers Cable. “Hey, I need to get TMN.”
I talked with a fellow for a bit. I explained I already had a digital box. He told me how much it’d cost, and said he’d hook it up right away.
“That’s great. When will I be able to start watching shows?”
“It should be very soon.”
“Tonight? Like in a few minutes?”
“You want to watch the Soprano’s, don’t you?”
“Yeah”
“You aren’t the only one.”
The fith season is great so far. It’s just as dark and depressing as the rest. If you’ve never watched the Soprano’s, be sure to check it out. I’d say it’s the show that really kicked off this new wave of really good television.
[1] Television
21 September 2006, lunch time
People don’t line up while waiting for the 191 Rocket, the TTC bus route I love to hate; everyone just forms a sort of semi-circle around the area where the bus door should be. When the doors open, everyone tries to squeeze in at the same time. I’ve never seen people line up this way at the Scarborough Town Centre. Even the people waiting for the McCowan North, which gets quite packed, will form neat lines. Of course, some thug kid will shove his way to the front just as the doors open—punk bitches—but beyond that it’s all very orderly. Taking the Rocket 191 has given me this really bad impression of Humber College kids.
[2] Life
