Battle of York Day

Battle of York Commemoration at historic Fort York. Soldiers of the Fort York Guard, the Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada and the 22nd US Infantry did some artillery and drill demonstrations and shot off some muskets.


During the War of 1812 the American's decided to invade Canada. While they won a few battles, including the capture of York, both sides eventually allowed the stalemate to come to a peaceful conclusion.

It only costs $8 (adult) to come into the Fort and while the crowds were sparse the drills and musket and cannon fire were impressive.

Chandelier 2009 by Catherine Harvey

It's time for some unusual art as the installation piece "Chandelier 2009" hangs in Brookfield Place. The large, hanging chandelier was created by Catherine Harvey with recycled plastic containers and a plastic shovel and mirrored disco ball.

Toronto Freedom Festival Kickoff - 4/20 2009

Preparations are underway in the rain for the Toronto Freedem Festival kick off event to be held today (Monday April 20, 2009) from Noon to 8pm on April 20, 2009 at Yonge-Dundas Square. The Festival itself will be held at Queen's Park North on Saturday May 2, 2009 (Noon to 8pm - Free Admission - rain or shine).


Festival Co-founders Neev and Gavin at the kickoff.

The festival hopes to promote the freedom to choose and legalized Marijuana and bills itself as "Toronto's little festival that could".

Saturday's main event is expected to draw over 25,000 to a day of celebration, voices, music and creative arts as well as a Global Marijuana March (GMM) starting and ending at Queen's Park and traveling along Bloor Street, Yonge Street and Wellesley Street.

A gathering of protesters also chose April 20, 2009 to stage an awakening at College Park at 420 Yonge Street. Hampered by the rain participants try to keep dry under the pine trees.

Street Performers in TO

With the nice weather returning to the big smoke we see more and more street performers plying their trade on the sidewalks. I have run into characters that I had seen several times at previous Buskerfest events including - Silver Elvis and Marie Antoinette (Kate Mior). Her pale face greets the peasants while wearing a beautiful gown. I take some pictures and drop some money into her bucket and enjoy her work. Awwww, summer is coming.




Shibaten Spirits plays his didgeridoo in Yonge-Dundas Square after the Toronto Sun's columnist Mike Stroebel did a story on how he was kicked out of the square by a large contingent of Toronto bylaw officers. His crime was noise pollution. The City has changed it's mind and allows him in the Square.

Japan & Montreal Fashion Weeks

« Japan Fashion Week in TOKYO » success

Modèle

The 8th edition of the Japan Fashion Week (JFW) took place from March 23 and 29 in Tokyo. About seven hundred renowned and up-and-coming designers (Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, India, United States and Europe) showcased their creativity and introducing Fall and winter 2009-2010 fashion trends.

www.jfw.jp

The great Braderie de mode québécoise - Spring 2009

Modèle

Montreal's eagerly awaited Spring 2009 Braderie de mode québécoise will be held from
Thursday, April 16th to Sunday, April 19th at Bonsecours Market in Old Montreal.
The Braderie serves up samples and inventory-surplus womenswear, menswear, kidswear,
coats, jewellery and accessories from 50 Quebec fashion designers - Marie Saint-Pierre, Muse by Christian Chenail, Rudsak, Soia & Kyo, Tavan & Mitto, Bodybag by Jude, Report Collection, Envers by Yves Jean Lacasse, Mackage, Ève Gravel, Michel Desjardins, Dinh Ba Design - all at 50% off or more!

April 16th to 19th, 2009
Bonsecours market
350 St-Paul East et 325 de la Commune East
Old-Montreal.
Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m
Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m

www.braderiedemodequebecoise.com

One week to Earth Day - Bloggers Unite

Ask not what the Earth can do for you (it has done so much already) - ask what you can do for your Earth. Ich bin ein Earthling.

Sometimes we look to one shining individual (like John F Kennedy) to galvanize people to make life changing actions, but it ultimately falls upon individuals to make the necessary changes. Bit by bit we seem to be getting the notion that our environment needs help. We need less pollution and more postive contributions and if I try and you try then maybe our combined contributions can make an impact.


Wind turbines in the Lake Huron Wind Farm provide clean, renewable power to Ontario resident's, helping to reduce our carbon footprint.

The annual awareness of our planet celebrated on Earth Day is now one week away - Wednesday April 22, 2009, what can you do for Earth?

Big Coffee

There was a big steaming cup of McDonald's coffee in downtown Toronto - imagine dropping that baby in your lap! It appears that the restaurant is offering free coffee from April 20 to May 3, 2009 from 5am to 10:30am.

High Park Holiday

It was a busy day in the jewel of Toronto's park system - High Park. The sunny start of our 4 day Easter Weekend brought many out to enjoy the attractions of this park which includes nature trails, leash free dog zones and a wide variety of animals in the small zoo.

The park is a perfect place to take the family for a full day of free fun - if you can get parking. The leash free area is full of dozens of dogs sniffing butts and chasing each other while their owners get to know each other. After looking at the dogs and the zoo you can head over to the children's play area full of wooden castles and swings.






It's definitely a park like no other.

Sam the Record Man Down

A large mural on the alley side of a building along Yonge Street has seen better days as demolition continues by the old Sam the Record Man building. Ryerson University expansion continues. You can see part of the long hidden Sam the Record Man painting on the wall behind the backhoe.



Sam's large neon "double-disc" record sign had become an icon on Yonge Street, a reminder of times before the CD and the Ipod. They were also in the headlines when a young girl named Jane Creba was killed across from the store during a gang shootout on Boxing Day 2005. The site immediately became a place for flowers and cards in memory of an innocent girl killed while shopping downtown.





On a totally unrelated note after being in San Francisco I have a new respect for the streetcar. Here is one of the TTCs red rockets.

The Art of Go

Visa commissioned artists to "interpret go as a word of action and an inspiration of life." This piece was done by artist Shayne Dark of Toronto and was made from hundreds of branches and intended to "capture the energy and spontaneity of the go campaign." The installation is currently at Yonge-Dundas Square.

I wanted to stay and study the work but for some reason I had to go.

Fashion Cares - 2010

I was sad to hear that the next major Fashion Cares event will be held in 2010. They hope that sponsors and volunteers jump on board for next year's bigger and better event - here is what they have to say.

Fashion Cares, held this past November 1, was a resounding success – both critically and in its goal of raising much-needed funds for the programs and services of the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT). Unlike previous years when the event was held in the spring, ‘Fashion sCares' was shifted to the fall to allow more time to plan and execute a truly spectacular event that has been hailed as one of the premier events in Toronto.

In order to continue to build on this success, organizers have decided to take a longer planning horizon. “It takes a tremendous amount of time to pull together this event,” says Meredith Marr, ACT Director of Development. “In addition to staff time, there are also the countless hours contributed by volunteers. To be a success and to raise money for ACT, time is needed to secure corporate sponsors, book talent, stage the fashion show, mobilize volunteers, arrange for supplies and market the event”.

Organizers also believe that a longer planning timeline is needed due to the current economic environment. ”We have decided that using 2009 as a bridge year for sponsors and patrons will ensure we are well positioned to make Fashion Cares 2010 spectacular and the most memorable yet,” says Michael King, the Volunteer Chair of Fashion Cares. “We're encouraging key volunteers, sponsors and others to start the wheels in motion now for Fashion Cares 2010.”

“Because ACT's programs and services are so critical to people who are living with HIV/AIDS in Toronto, we are encouraging those who have attended the event to make a donation to ACT in 2009,” adds King. “With sustaining support we can continue to provide much-needed practical, emotional, vocational and other support services to people living with HIV/AIDS in our city.”

Meanwhile, ACT will be focusing on a number of Fashion Cares satellite events in 2009 and will announce further details on those events in the coming months. ACT will also continue to develop its other major fundraising events – the annual AIDS Walk for Life Toronto held in September, and SNAP!, a photographic art auction held in the early spring. In addition, ACT will be expanding its efforts to engage individual and corporate donors to help meet its mission.

For more information, contact:

Andrew Brett, ACT Communications Coordinator, 416.340.8484 x 225 or abrett@actoronto.org

Motorcycle Show

With spring comes motorbikes and thousands of bikers came down to the Toronto International Centre to check out bikes, accessories and fashion at the Spring Motorcycle Show. Not only could you check out new models but they had many old bikes for sale - on hand ready to go.



I think the fashion wear of choice for bikers is the pair of chaps. There were many beautiful biker girls in the crowds looking forward to the freedom of summer and riding a hog. It was a great group of bikers that came pouring into the show, everyone was friendly - and why not? When people ride motorcycles it is a rule that you have to wave to others on a motorcycle. And it isn't that wave the Queen does - it has to be that cool low extension of the hand on the right, more of a palm view than a real wave. Luckily that rule didn't apply in the building or everyone would be black and blue in the tight confines of the International Centre full of bikes and people.







Some of the custom bikes and the paint jobs were fantastic.






I wouldn't mind getting my motor running and taking a little scooter through the streets of Toronto. Keep your mouth closed and watch out for the bugs in your face - happy riding everyone!

Thongs

I forgot one of the funniest signs that I saw in California. One of the restaurants on Pier 39 in San Francisco had a sign that said "no thongs - except on feet." Now if that was my restaurant it would have been the opposite - get a free appetizer with thong! Have a happy thong day.

Protest in scramble intersection

There was quite a crowd taking to the intersection of Yonge and Dundas to protest the plans for increasing the use of nuclear energy in Ontario. The protest was billed as the "world's first social cause event organized IN a public pedestrian scramble intersection."




It was like watching the tides. The all-way pedestrian signal led the protesters onto the street, then as the hand signalled the end of the pedestrian crossing the protesters faded back onto the sidewalks. You can go to their website NoNuclearNow.blogspot.com to learn more of their concerns.

Toronto's Trump International Hotel & Tower

The construction of the new Trump International Hotel and Tower on Bay Street continues to rise into the sky. I am hoping they top the building with a nice combover.

Toronto Sun Credit Card Newspaper Box

I was surprised to see a fancy new Toronto Sun newspaper box with a gizmo for accepting credit cards to purchase the paper - somebody is working hard to get that 50 cents from the news reading public.



The high tech box was located right outside of Union Station and the first thing that caught my eye was the unusual look of the sleek machine - instead of the traditional red box. Looking closer I discovered that it accepted credit cards.

Now I myself have been reading paid newspapers less and less while going online more and more. One of the reasons that I stopped buying the Sun was that when you bought it at the store you had to pay 53 cents instead of 50 cents. If you tried to buy the paper out of the box a good percentage of the time the coin operation failed and it either kept my money or gave me back my change and wouldn't let me get a paper - both of these options made me less than happy. UPDATE: I went to a SUN box yesterday to finally buy a paper and of course it would not work - and I tried a few times.

Now that the business model of newspapers seems to be failing the old way of doing things has been replaced with less news, less newspaper and increased costs to cover the loss of advertising revenue. To continue selling less and less of their newspapers they may have to substantially raise the cost of each paper - no wonder they need the ability to take credit cards.