GO Transit, full metal stop

Commuting in and out of Toronto is always a challenge as the roads are always busy but at rush hour the simple 45 minute drive becomes two and a half hours. Add in the cost of parking and many people end up using public transit. Most public transportation works only within a municipality, although some routes do mingle, so that if you travel through more than one municipality the best bet is GO Transit. Not surprisingly the trains have the same shortcomings as any other method; weather and breakdowns can happen at any time - but sometimes it seems like Friday is the day for breakdowns.

Today, yes a Friday, the Georgetown line had a major problem as the 4:15pm train from Union Station decided to break down in Malton right beside the International Centre. For an hour and a half they worked on the train but could not get it running. Finally another train came and pushed the broken down train to the Bramalea station where we got out of old unfaithful and moved into the working train.

Train 247 pushes train 601

Canadians in Libya - No Fly Zone

Operation MOBILE enforces the UN ordered Resolution #1973 No Fly Zone over Libya made March 17, 2011. Canada unleashes Task Force Libeccio which is an air detachment which will do the enforcing.  Six jet fighters, which they cutely refer to as a "six-pack", and an air-to-air refueling component are now operating out of the Italian Vincenzo Florio Airport and their first mission was an escort and patrol job on March 21. Their fist act of violence was the bombing of an ammunition dump in Misurata.

From the Prime Minister's website (March 19, 2011) "Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the following remarks at an emergency meeting on Libya: “First, I should like to thank President Sarkozy for convening this important and historic meeting. We have gathered here, leaders and representatives from North America and Europe, and the Arab League, because the embattled people of Libya have challenged us. 

Do we believe in freedom, or do we just say we believe in freedom?

Earlier this week, the UN Security Council gave its answer. On Thursday, it passed a resolution authorizing additional sanctions and a no-fly zone to prevent the regime from bombing its own citizens. To enforce this resolution, Canadian aircraft and HMCS Charlottetown have joined an international force assembling in the region."

Photos provided by the Department of National Defence.

Coupon Deals - What's up with the spa stuff?

The world of coupons exploded with the introduction of the internet. Before we used to find the occasional coupon at the grocery store. The rest were found in massive piles of inserts found in local newspapers but no one reads newspapers anymore. You get the best coupons from the internets and email now - group deals that give discounts which are usually 50-90% off, some that kick in when a minimum amount of people want to use the coupon and some require no minimums.

I note that one of the largest users of the online group coupon sale method are spas (simulated spa action pictured above). They love these sale coupons. I think that they use a supercomputer to combine words to make up services that they will provide. How else can they come up this stuff? No longer is it good enough to offer facials, manicures and pedicures, massages, rub & tugs and body treatments. Now they go into the computer and out comes the following.

Triple layer herbal facial peel for pigmentation. Intraceutical oxygen infusing facial. Anti-aging photorejuvenation treatments. Vajacial. That last one sounds interesting but I don't even know what intraceutical means. Thank god for the web - to the google machine. Intraceutical: therapeutic oxygen under
hyperbaric pressure to infuse a special serum of modified hyaluronic acid, essential vitamins, botanicals, antioxidants and amino peptides to the skin. Okay, I still don't know what it means. But look for your online group coupon and get one, or, err, several, I think.

Sucker Punch and Babydoll

Sucker Punch the Warner Bros movie opens tomorrow (Friday, March 25, 2011) and it looks freaky fantastic. "Close your eyes. Open your mind. You will be unprepared." Baby Doll (Emily Browning) uses her imagination to try to escape from a mental institution and a planned lobotomy.

See more pictures after the jump.

The snow falls in spring, Robins cry

As someone I know said on Facebook "Dear Mother Nature.....clearly you didn't get the memo...WINTER ENDED!!!!" Spring is just a few days old and it celebrated with a lot of white stuff in Ontario. I think that the plows were all asleep in their beds and they didn't want to come out and play - so the roads were a little slippery.  We went from no snow to a bunch of snow on everything, including the barbecue.


Just so there is some colour I include some pictures of switches. I know, talk about excitement.

Steampunk in Toronto

The Toronto Steampunk Society (TSS) says "Steampunk is a romanticized re-imagining of the Victorian Period." It's the future and the past combined with some fantasy, wild imagination, great costumes and hats - plenty of hats.

These guys and their hats were at the Wizard World Toronto Comic Con. You can join the very social group and enjoy the dress up. Maybe if you are lucky you will build and fly in a dirigible.

Marlies #1 Fan

Some excited young Marlies AHL hockey fans going to the Saturday, March 19 game against the Phantoms at the Exhibition's Ricoh Coliseum. The ghostly Phantoms kicked ass and took names and the Marlies lost in a 1-3 score even though the Marlies had the higher shots on goal against the Adirondack team.

Tickets go from $14 to $43 (less if you buy ahead of time) and you should keep this league in mind if you can't get tickets to the Maple Leafs!

Dr Pepper Cherry

I was told that Wade Morrison named the original beverage Dr Pepper after the father of a girl he liked. Now I am not sure who they named his new drink after but I do like Dr Pepper Cherry! The good people of Dr Pepper have released Dr Pepper Cherry in Canada and I was sent some samples - welcome to Canada Dr Pepper Cherry, welcome to Canada.

I also had to check out the 3D movie THOR, with Thor pictured on the bottle, which is coming to theatres in May 2011. Thor falls to earth in modern times and meets some humans. The movie includes stars Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Watching the trailer I am pretty sure that they also release a frozen Kraken.

Honda Indy Toronto - roundup going into 2011

Paul Tracy's latest ups and downs has seen him leave his KV Racing Technology team (Tony Kanaan takes over) and hired by Dreyer and Reinbold Racing with a run in the Indy 500 and some believe that he may race in the Toronto and Edmonton Indys.

The downs for Paul (pictured at top: Paul on the right, with Helio Castroneves on the left) included the difficulty in finding the large bucks sponsorship needed for the price of admission into the very expensive race series. I want to see the bad boy running the track and also raising everyone's temperatures off the track (like Ontario/Tracy vs Quebec/Tagliani  - I just hope he doesn't end up trashing his car.

Another driver I am looking forward to seeing out on the track is of course the famous and beautiful Danica Patrick shown above at the 2010 Toronto Street Party signing autographs. I think it is great that several ladies are part of the IndyCar Series and doing so well in it - here is Simona de Silvestro entering the pits at the 2010 Honda Indy Toronto.

The Honda Indy Toronto owners - Green Savoree Racing Promotions, have also purchased the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and School. This increases their holdings with along with the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg. It's always good when the promoters are growing. They say “Properties like Mid-Ohio don’t come on the market every day,” said Green Savoree Co-Owner, President and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Savoree. “It was a great opportunity to invest in a property with a great history and tradition that, like us, has deep roots in sports car and Indy car racing. It was also a chance to extend our relationship with Honda, which is a longtime partner of Mid-Ohio and our other properties.”

It will be interesting to see if the September 17 Indy Japan 300 ends up being run with the extreme damage and hardship the people of Japan have had to endure with the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant problems        - especially since IndyCar intends to drop the Japanese race after the 2011 season. Japan was where Danica won the 2008 race.


IndyCar Lights driver James Hinchcliffe from Toronto (and Canadian Driver of the Year) has started the transition to IndyCar and hopefully the Canadian will run and place near the top of the series in his first season.

NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, Firestone Indy Lights and Canadian Tour Car Championship racing will be back and those large NASCAR stock cars fill up the track pretty fast. And Ferrari Challenge anyone?

After a rocky period several years ago when the ownership of the Grand Prix and later the Indy seemed to burn and churn, the last several years has seen a steady improvement each year. Free Fridays is a fantastic way to get people in to see the excitement of the high performance race cars. It will soon be time to sit in the warm sun, watch the cars burn around the track and enjoy some cold barley pops.

Toronto Honda Indy start/finish line.

Repo! Shadow Cats

I saw some of the cast of Repo! Shadow Cats for the film Repo! The Genetic Opera and I was intrigued with the thought that this was a lot like going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show - only better (because it was raunchy and had boobs). I liked the costumes as well - this is Kirsten pictured above.

Shadow Casting is when actors provide a re-enactment of the movie while the movie is shown in the background. The film Repo! The Genetic Opera story line is that a biotech company is taking back, or repossessing, the organs planted in people who have defaulted on the payments for the said organs.

Playing at the Toronto Underground Cinema (2nd last Friday of the month @ 9:30pm) everyone is encouraged to participate, join in by dancing and singing and wearing costumes. See more pictures after the jump.

Mohawk Hairstyle

I really like Mohawk hairstyles - they are both cool and bad ass. I saw these guys at the recent Toronto Comic Con. Based on a native american hairstyle worn by the Iroquois and the English sometimes refer to it as the Mohican.

Flock of Seagulls

At first I ran away from the flock of seagulls, but then when I survived the winged fury I decided to stay and watch the airborne antics of the noisy white birds.

They are a thing of beauty, whether they are flying or begging for food in front of you. These guys were being fed in Nathan Phillips Square at City Hall. People started feeding them on the ground and then they started throwing food up into the air and the birds caught the food mid flight.

PS the outdoor rink at Toronto's City Hall has been shut down for the season. Here are a father and son walking on the remaining ice that won't be around for much longer. The round part of council chambers combined with the curves of the Freedom Arches over the rink/reflecting pool make it look like there is an immense spider ready to do battle with the city.

More chalk in the streets

It is a nice combination of art and busking - chalk in the streets. These chalk artists draw large tableaus on the sidewalks with high pedestrian traffic, here today and gone tomorrow - sooner if it rains. This tiger seems to come alive as it forms take shape and people stop and stare at the work.

This weekend isn't done yet - now in Real 2D

Spring brings out the fun, long buried under a collection of snow, salt and miscellaneous debris. Besides the Hobbystar animeCON and Wizard World Comic Con we have a bunch of other shows going on at the same time: The Sportsmen's Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, The Canada Blooms Festival at the Direct Energy Centre and the Toronto Wine and Cheese Show at the International Centre - Now I will drink to that.

I picked up my free Home Depot bag from Canada Blooms and got a litle Garden Inspiration with the Flower and Garden Festival while the Sportsmen's Show lineups were quite intimidating.

Protests at Yonge-Dundas Square

The heart of downtown Toronto continues to be the Yonge and Dundas intersection and when people want to celebrate or protest the first place they go is the busy roadway and the adjacent public park - Yonge-Dundas Square. With so much turmoil in the world there always seems to be plenty of people ready to gather to protest something. Today it was no different as the middle east has so many countries that are pressing for changes.

Countries like Bahrain, Libya where the UN has started to enforce a no-fly zone over the country with rebels  in a battle against the leader Muammar Gaddafi and Egypt where protests have already forced changes in leadership.

Wizard World Toronto Comic Con 2011

While the younger generation was having fun at the Toronto AnimeCON the older crowd was at the Wizard World Toronto Comic Con which was underway at the Direct Energy Centre in the Exhibition grounds. The show started on the Friday and continues to Sunday March 20, 2011. Buy your tickets online at $25 because there were quite a few upset fans paying $38 when they purchased tickets at the show.

On Saturday star Billy Dee Williams, famous for playing Lando in the Star Wars movies, met his fans for autographs and photos. The Star Wars 501st Legion - Canadian Garrison members wandered around the hall posing for a great many photos including with members of the Toronto Roller Derby.

Most of the visitors were there for the comics, games and to meet the stars and a smaller number of people dressed up in cosplay outfits.

There were tables and tables full of gamers playing various matches and tournaments in the back end of the hall.

See more photos of the event after the jump. (click on Read more >> below).

Toronto AnimeCON

There was quite the crowd at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) going into the Hobbystar Toronto AnimeCON which is still on tomorrow (Sunday March 20, 2011) from 11 am to 5 pm. The cost was a very reasonable $15 which was good for attendance during the entire weekend. The show was on level 100 which has a great hall just made for Cosplay displays. The bright wigs, costumes and contact lenses made for exciting pictures.

I met with James Armstrong (pictured below) of Hobbystar Marketing - home of FanExpo Canada, who said that they started these shows about 7 years ago during March break so that people who didn't go away on vacation could have something fun to do in town.

The event drew a large contingent of people dressed in various anime, manga and comic characters lounging in the hall after doing the rounds within the hall. I love that everyone wears bold and colourful costumes and that they were happy to have their pictures taken. So many of the visitors were in costume and were also taking pictures of other people's costumes as well as checking out all the vendors selling plush characters, comics, books and many other items in the retailer room #105. There was a Game Show Theatre in room #104D with a number of anime games and a Q&A Theatre in room #104C. A J-Pop Dance ran from 5 to 8 pm on the Saturday.

James also mentioned the upcoming Toronto ComicCON Fan Appreciation event on April 9 and 10 at the MTCC which has free admission all weekend. The show will have over 150 tables in the 25,000+ square feet hall with a large artist alley and celebrity guests like Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica, Alan Ruck of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Dominic Keating of Star Trek Enterprise as well as Trina Nishimura and Jamie Marchi.

In summer we can look forward to "Canada's Biggest & Best Comic Book Event" FanExpo Canada from August 25th to the 28th, 2011.

See a lot more pictures after the jump. (click on Read more >> below).