Toronto Motorcycle Supershow 2012

The bikes filled quite a few halls in the #Toronto International Centre for the 2012 edition of the North American International Motorcycle Supershow. Outside the cars filled the parking lot and inside wandering around the halls took patience as the crowds were out in force. Skulls and pretty girls were prevalent themes because bikers are either thinking of death or sex.

GoLo Racing models, one wears thigh high boots

Superhero Leathers have some cool jackets - here is the Captain American model

A Ducati motorcycle painted up as a snake

The multiple halls displayed new bikes, custom choppers, new and used motorcycles and parts for sale, with lots of leather, helmets and chains also available. My brother ended up getting chaps and will probably wear them tonite. There were plenty of motorcycle clubs and groups represented in booths and attending the show.

See more Supershow bikes and girls after the jump.

Canadian Motorsports Expo 2012 coming soon

The motorcycles are getting me ready for the 2012 edition of the Inside Track Canadian Motorsports Expo running from Feb 10, 11 and 12 - also at the #Toronto International Centre.

Motorcycle Supershow - C U TO

Update: See photos of the Supershow 2012 here.

That's code for see you tomorrow #Toronto at the 2012 Toronto International Motorcycle Supershow at the International Centre. I think Joe Fresh and I will wear our viking helmets again and our bro John, our wives and Kevin will also be there. See the bikes and the girls starting today and running Saturday and Sunday, Jan 6 to 8.

An army motorcycle

Here are some shots from the 2012 Supershow

The Amsoil ladies

See more photos after the jump.

Arctic Air ice sculpture

Large blocks of ice are being sculpted right now in #Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square. At first I thought that they might be signaling the upcoming WinterCity celebrations, which include Winterlicious and their famous prix fixe meals, but it turned out that it was a promotion for the new television show ‘Arctic Air’. The blocks are being put together and sculpted to form an airplane by a team of dedicated and slightly cold artists. Island airport activists will soon picket the sculpture in anticipation of excessive ice noise and potential ice plane flights which will disrupt their enjoyment of the island.

The sculpture base is laid out early in the morning

Blocks of ice wander looking for a cocktail

The one hour television show is about a ‘maverick airline and the unconventional family that runs it’ and features such actresses as Krista who is a pilot and natural leader while also being smoking hot. She is joined by Krista from Sweden and a few other people. Seems a lot like the reality show called Ice Pilots NWT with the group from Buffalo Airways or the other flying reality show Flying Wild Alaska. The Artic Air will surely be joined by other series built around pawnbrokers and the unconventional family that runs it and later by a show about storage facilities and the unconventional and ornery group that bids on the lockers – one of the characters will probably bid by saying Yyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppp in a really annoying way. Later the CBC will try to predict what happens in 2009!

The plane really starts to take shape

This plane will only cost $5 to ride but taxes run at $25,000

See more of the plane - even when it's completed, after the jump.

Bus Terminal Family Restaurant mural

There is a Family Restaurant near a bus terminal in #Toronto, with a mural on the outside wall, and the restaurant name is, surprisingly, 'Bus Terminal Family Restaurant'. I think that the mural information should also have gone on the sign as the name of the restaurant. It just rolls off the tongue and falls in the gutter. It's like Wikipedia was raided to provide a name.

I think the lady in the painting is modeled after Madonna.

Roller Derby back in TO Feb 4

Update: See the 2012 Season Opener photos here.

It's quiet and dark on the @TOrollerDerby track in the Bunker right now. The ladies are probably outside rolling down the winter streets of Toronto with skates fitted with small snow wheels or maybe even snow chains - tiny little snow chains over the little urethane wheels.

Gore Gore Dust Bunny gets slammed by the Chicks' Robber Blind

TORD fans will soon fill Downsview Park, home of the wheeled Goddesses of War, as the Toronto Roller Derby (TORD) 2012 season opener on February 4 features a double header with DVAS in the opener and the Gore Gore Rollergirls vs Chicks Ahoy finishing the night.

The initial 2012 schedule:
04/FEB – DVAS vs. DVAS AND Gore Gore Rollergirls vs. Chicks Ahoy
03/MAR – Death Track Dolls vs. Smoke City Betties AND CN Power vs. Roc City
14/APR – Gore Gore Rollergirls vs. Death Track Dolls AND CN Power vs QCRG
12/MAY – Chicks Ahoy vs. Smoke City Betties
09/JUN – Smoke City Betties vs. Gore Gore Rollergirls AND Chicks Ahoy vs. Death Track Dolls

The DVAS show the colours, then they assassinated a viper

Yonge and Gone

Fire and development have taken the buildings on either side of Yonge and Gould Street. The old Sam the Record Man was demolished to make way for another expansion of the Ryerson University Campus, while the historic building located to the south of the intersection was already falling apart when it later was extensively damaged during a fire. The building could not be saved and it too came down.

Scorch marks along the adjacent building

The lots are cleared and covered over in gravel awaiting the start of new construction.

Sign over Yonge Street

Signworks Inc had two ladder trucks installing an American Apparel sign above the store on Yonge Street. The large sign is really a vinyl poster pulled tight between a rigid frame, sitting right next to Sunrise Records' Coldplay graffiti sign MYLO XYLOTO.

See people working high in the air and some poster cleavage after the jump.

Happy Face and No Bicycles

The Eaton Centre is a magnet for weird and wonderful things found in our fair city, things that are sometimes pedestrian and sometimes fantastic. The cold weather keeps away a lot of the buskers who must surely be on the streets at some warmer location but I managed to find a chalk happy face drawn on the base of a light standard along Queen Street West. It definitely wouldn't make it as Yorkville graffiti but I smiled when I saw it.

This was joined by a slightly askew tree guard, guarding a tree that no longer existed, filled to the brim with garbage that likely accumulated during the New Years Eve extravaganza at Nathan Phillips Square. The iron guard had a sign that said 'No Bicycles Allowed. Will Be Removed, Management.' The sign also had a sticker of a Native American.

Extreme Cold Weather Alert Jan 2012

The City of #Toronto issued an Extreme Cold Weather Alert on Jan 2, 2012 and asked that homeless people seek warm places to go. The frosty weather is hitting the low -20's with the infamous cold chill factored in to the mix. Downtown was definitely less busy on the streets with the combination cold weather and end of Christmas and Boxing Week sales. I only saw a couple of homeless people out panhandling and one was asleep under a sleeping bag on Bay Street.

The Alerts are issued by Toronto when Environment Canada calls for temperatures below -15 degrees Celsius or sudden drops in temperature, issues a wind chill warning for Toronto or predicts blizzards, ice storms or other extreme weather conditions. People can call 311 to find available shelter and resources. 

Steam grates are favourites spots for the homeless

The City advises that "During an Extreme Cold Weather Alert, street outreach workers continue to urge people to go inside and provide transportation to shelters or overnight respite. In addition to ongoing outreach, during an alert:
• Shelters relax any existing service restrictions.
• Street outreach is increased, focusing solely on warning clients of danger and transporting them to warm places.
• TTC tokens are available at a number of drop-ins so people have transportation to shelters.
• More than 100 agencies are advised of the impending extreme weather, asked to relax any service restrictions they may have, and are reminded of the danger this poses to vulnerable clients.
• 172 shelter spaces are added."

From mid December 2011

It only seemed like yesterday that the last heat alert was called by Toronto's Medical Officer of Health (actually it was August 1, 2011). It was called off the next day by Dr. David McKeown.

"During a Heat Alert, the public is encouraged to call or visit family, friends and neighbours, especially isolated adults and seniors who are at greater risk of suffering from heat-related illness, to make sure they are cool and drinking plenty of fluids. Other groups at risk include people with chronic and pre-existing illnesses, infants and young children, people on certain medications and those who are marginally housed or homeless.

The public is advised to "Beat the Heat" by taking these precautions:
- Drink lots of water or natural fruit juices; do not wait to feel thirsty.
- Go to air-conditioned places, including shopping malls or one of many local libraries or community centres located in each neighbourhood.
- Wear loose fitting, light coloured clothing made of breathable fabric.
- Stay out of the sun.
- Reduce strenuous physical outdoor activity, especially between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- Never leave the elderly, children or pets unattended in a car."

Sunflowers and Butterfly painting in Yorkville

Classy Yorkville has graffiti in the streets like a lot of #Toronto, but it is very upper crust, like it should be hung on a mansion wall or in a museum. I gazed at the oil painting of a sunflower field with butterfly that is on the sidewalk side of the Bell switching box on Cumberland Street just to the west of Bellair Street and right beside the Village of Yorkville Park. I would have stayed longer because it was a nice painting but security asked if I had a entrance ticket or a receipt from one of the stores, I didn't so they asked me to move it along. Yorkville also has litter problem but it is all crumpled up $20 bills (minimum) blowing in the wind.

An actual field of sunflowers

Hair of the Dog New Years Day 9k

If you didn't want to join the Polar Bear swimmers you could also get wet today doing the #Toronto Hair of the Dog New Years Day 9k marathon (or 3k if you wanted, walk or run). The wet driving rain ensured that if you weren't sweating on January 1, 2012 you would be soaked by the elements during the Balmy Beach Canoe Club Fun Run event. Hair of the Dog is a great name for the marathon as it follows immediately after the partying that goes on during New Years Eve. Some people have a little snort of booze to try to help them endure their hangovers.

Polar Bear Dip: Sunnyside 2012

Update: See the January 1, 2013 dip on my post here.

The 7th annual #Toronto Polar Bear Dip at Sunnyside Park expected over 400 brave swimmers to hit the waters in support of Habitat for Humanity on January 1, 2012. The swim included a bagpiper and live bands which made it easier for the Polar Bears to enjoy the experience that not everyone has the heart to try and they also raised approximately $40,000 at this year's event. I also checked out the Sears Great Canadian Chill Polar Swim at Woodbine Beach - see the pictures here.

Habitat for Humanity Toronto uses the money to support the construction of affordable housing for low income families. See more photos after the jump.

Polar Swim: Great Canadian Chill

Shiver me timbers #Toronto - today is the day for Polar Bear Swims in Lake Ontario. I will be wearing my viking helmet with my brother Joe as we photograph the January 1st Sears Great Canadian Chill at Ashbridges Bay/Woodbine Beach. Stay frosty in 2012 my friend. The driving rain did not slow down the swimmers but it was nice to prepare in the heated tent. Money raised is used to support Sears Charitable Foundation which funds 17 pediatric oncology centres 'Stopping Kids Cancer Cold.'

It takes some courage to run into the cold waters of Lake Ontario, you can see the determination on peoples faces.

Then you experience the frigid waters and realize how cold it will be.

The DJ plays some great tunes while people get their costumes ready

Some vikings enjoy the warm temperatures of Ontario's lakes in the winter

See more Polar Swim pictures after the jump.

Out with the old, in with the New Years 2012

Happy New Years everyone, especially you Tiny Tim, God bless you. Work hard, play hard and have fun! December 31, 2011 has come and gone, along with a few beverages, and so we enter 2012.

Lady Gaga hosted the massive event in Times Square in that little city known as New York, I would have gone but it is too busy in the Big Apple for New Years Rockin' Eve. Instead I partied in Acton with my wife and a great crowd at the Acton Curling Club where I met Nancy, Canadian superstar and all around media celebrity, who helped us welcome the new year in style. Nancy is well known in Canada and appears often on television and on the YouTube (see her in pink in the photo below). I thought she might not want to have her picture taken by the paparazzi but I was wrong, she was so friendly and even told her bodyguards to only rough me up a little after I took her photo - just how I imagine Julia Roberts to be like.

This was one of her best roles that I can remember her in, it may have also be filmed during the Olympics (I will have to check on that). I cried with the passion of her sweeping; hurry hard Nancy, hurry hard.