Sunday, February 28, 2010

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics closing



The February Blahs have been kicked to the curb as Canadians have been watching the Olympic athletes competing and winning against the best of the world (we are in third place and have the most golds right now). Crowds of screaming, red jersey wearing fans have filled the stands watching the games. These aren't athletes, these are rock stars.

The Canadian Hockey team is getting ready to go toe to toe with the Americans and hopefully Canada will do better this time. After leading the Americans through the game the US pressed hard and in the last seconds of the game scored a goal and forced an overtime period. Luckily for Canada Sidney Crosby scores the winning goal in overtime and we take the silver medal. Fans of all ages and all over Canada head outside and stand alongside roads with flags as cars honk in celebration of the victory. Yonge Street in Toronto was closed as people piled into the street for a little party.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony will take place tonite. I will miss the excitement and cheering for Canada.

During the CTV Olympic Celebration down at Nathan Phillips Square the place was full of fans and also a couple of wedding parties. That's right, wedding parties. Many people choose to get married at Toronto City Hall. This couple were holding hands as the wedding party wandered through the crowds, she held onto a bouquet of flowers and his hand.

Photo Vault - Hit the beaches


Winter has been very kind to us here in Ontario but even still it's time for Summer. Toronto is fortunate to be situated along Lake Ontario so there are a number of sandy beaches (see the following list) where Toronto goes to fly a kite or relax, put on their thongs to get some rays and then hit the water.



Bluffer's Park Beach with a great view of the Scarborough Bluffs.
Toronto Island:Centre Island Beach and the islands are a great place to spend a day.
Cherry Beach is also a favourite with dog owners.
Toronto Island:Gibraltar Point Beach
Toronto Island:Hanlan's Point Beach Toronto's clothing optional beach.
The Beaches:Kew - Balmy Beach
Marie Curtis Park East Beach
Rouge Beach
Sunnyside Beach
Toronto Island: Ward's Island Beach
The Beaches:Woodbine Beache home of the boardwalk and beach volleyball in Ashbridges Bay Park.




You can check out Toronto beach water quality here. You can also walk, bike or rollerblade on the waterfront trail.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Cute little puppy


My friend dropped by and brought along his Golden Retriever puppy and it was pretty darn cute. It reminded me of a website called Cute Overload - try it when you need to look at something syrupy sweet.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

CTV Olympic Celebration - Toronto


CTV threw a party down at City Hall to celebrate the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. From 1pm to 6pm in Nathan Phillips Square musical guests Justin Hines, Fefe Dobson and the Barenaked Ladies performed for the large crowd. The weather was perfect for the event and the sun came out for most of the show.



Here is Fefe Dobson rocking the crowd. She had a loud band and a booming voice. Then when she finished a song she let out a thank you in a little voice.




The famous Barenaked Ladies wrapped up the concert with some old and new songs. They do a great show with plenty of fun interaction with the audience. They made up songs about waking up the hotel when they did an early sound check at 8am. Here are Tyler Stewart on drums, Jim Creeggan on bass and Ed Robertson on guitar. I miss Steven Page and wish he was still with the band.





CTV news personalities were on hand to announce and to report on the events held during the celebration. Here is a very serious reporter Alicia Markson and also News Anchor Ken Shaw.




Coca-Cola and Red Bull were giving out some free samples.




Member of Parliament Olivia Chow and husband Jack Layton, Member of Parliament and leader of the Federal NDP Party dropped by for the celebration.



Some of the Activities:
Canadian Olympic Team Winter Gaming Zone
The Globe and Mail Front Page Photo Area
MuchMusic Celebration Theatre
RBC Olympic Ice Hockey Shoot-out
Curling Experience
Leave Your Mark, Canada!
Olympic and Paralympic Athlete Celebration Tent
CTV Aerial Show
Beer & Wine Garden

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Queen in Queen Street Subway


The Queen Street subway station has been taken over by posters for the upcoming Alice in Wonderland. Besides large group posters there are lots of posters of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). The new Tim Burton movie will also feature Johnny Depp and be in "amazing 3D". The images and makeup are striking.

I liked how they built there advertising into the name of the subway station.

Coming to a theatre near you March 5, 2010!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentines Day TO


I hope you had the chocolates and flowers ready because today is Valentines Day Toronto.

Next year you can take your loved one to the Toronto Erotic Arts and Craft Fair usually held the day before Valentines. This year's fourth annual event was held at the Gladstone Hotel.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Ice Car Racing


Toronto's Honda Indy won't be in town until July and much of the motorsport world in Ontario is hibernating. If you want the thrill of car racing you can always check out the world of ice racing.

The Canadian Automobile Sports Club - Ontario Region (CASC-OR) is running the Magnum Ice Racing Series in the Haliburton Highlands. A large park has been taken over by the organizers and the raceway was laid out in the snow and water was placed on the track. Surprisingly the water turned to ice and a great new element was added to car racing up in Minden, Ontario.

Snow and ice chips gather in sections of the track and put up a surprising tail when cars roar through the mixture or slam into the snowbanks along the side of the course. You can watch the races from the large snowbanks and look down at the track and the cars.





It's free to watch these exciting matches of rubber and ice or metal and ice so go check them out during the weeekends in February (Saturdays and Sundays) finishing February 27-28, 2010 at the Minden Fairgrounds.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

A glimpse of a Jersey Boy


First Canadian Place brought the Jersey Boys to their Waterfall Stage during lunch time and the crowds emptied from the towers and gathered along the PATH route to watch the boys do a few numbers. I caught a glimpse of one of the boys, through a glass balcony and without a flash, downstairs.



The stage area is quite large, with several levels of view, which was still inadequate to see the group for the majority of people so I left disappointed.

Bollywood WOW during Wintercity


The Compagnie Les Passagers from France rehearse Namastey which is a Bollywood-style spectacle show performed on a vertical stage overlooking Nathan Phillips Square. The performance is sponsored by RBC and the group reminds the crowd that the Wintercity Festival is still going strong. Besides the nightly event you can expect another weekend of fun starting this Friday when the night is South Asian inspired.




Keep your eyes out for the fire artists Flaming Lotus Girls from San Francisco who take part in the very famous Burning Man Festival (one day I plan to go see this event).

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Photo Vault - Earth Hour

For pictures of the 2010 event at Yonge-Dundas Square click on my blog post here.

Earth Hour, much like Earth Day only 1/24th as long, occurs in March and what kind of stuff would you do for Earth Hour, I can hear you ask? Simple, turn off lights and other electrical appliances and bask in the darker glow of green living.

On March 29, 2008 Toronto joined the world wide celebration in a big way. Singer Nelly Furtado (pictured above) headlined the celebration at Nathan Phillips Square and we all watched the lights in most of the downtown towers start to dim at 8pm. Toronto reduced demand by over 8% which reduced our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions just a tiny bit for a small moment in time (in 2009 it went up to 15%!). It's a small first step which helps to raise awareness of the problem and what we can do when we put our minds to something.



I remember that the day was frigid and the crowds gathered to watch Nelly helped to ease the bitter cold. Still, I might have plugged in an electric heater, had one been available, to better watch the lights go down in the City. I guess I have to work on my superpowers, It's hard work trying to save the world.

This year you can join the Earth Hour movement on March 27, 2010 at 8:30 pm. You can also check out the City of Toronto's Earth Hour website for information on previous events and hopefully information on the 2010 Earth Hour.

Doors Open

Scarborough Bluffs

Pride

Redball

Beaches

Graffiti

Lake Ontario

Nathan Phillips Square

Transportation