Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween Street Party

What a blast! Every year Church street closes between Isabella and Alexander for a massive costume street party.

Here are some of the highlights.



Em and I



Bert and Ernie



Awww!



Alf!



Creepy guy from the Saw movies



This guy's costume was fabulous! Orange fleece pants and black duct tape, orange work gloves and an actual traffic cone with a working yellow light on top.



Facebook fun!



Obama and a drag Sarah Palin



Your furry lovable pal, Grover!



Davy Jones

I'm looking forward to going next year, although based on what I saw, I'm going to have to jack up the creative juices for the costume. D says he's going as the Pet Shop Boys character from the video of "Can You Forgive Her". That'll be cool!

Mark it for next year and come on out!

October 2008 Books and Movies

Burn After Reading

Excellent movie! John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney and the Cohen brothers are a good combo. Funny as h*ll and quite dark. I enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end, and that is saying a lot, considering some of the movies I've seen lately. Highly recommend it, go see it!

Goodnight, Nobody
Jennifer Weiner

Well, no one is perfect, so I knew there had to be a clunker in there somewhere. This book was just bad. The heroine was one of those really annoying klutzy, always saying and doing the wrong thing all the time, types that I really can't stand. Maybe it's because they just make me so uncomfortable thinking about real life situations while making those kind of gaffs. The worst part was, the plot dragged on and on, then didn't actually satisfactorily resolve! Bad author, bad! It's about a housewife who investigates the murder of one of the neighbourhood "perfect mommies" while recounting flashbacks to her single life in NYC. Give it a miss, there are others that are much better.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Meaghan Smith, Lori Cullen, Ron Sexsmith

Great night at Massey Hall. I've always loved the venue, the acoustics are wonderful. Meaghan Smith is a fantastic up and comer out of Toronto, looking forward to getting her full length album when it comes out.

Lori Cullen didn't quite win me over with her look and first song, but after a while she started to get in. Great lyrics and expressive singing.

Ron Sexsmith is someone I didn't know much about before I went. I knew he was a singer/songwriter and had written a number of tunes for other artists. He touched me so much, I came home and immediately downloaded one of his songs. Really reflective, wonderful melodies, great guitar and piano playing. A real treat.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Fashion Week Party

I went to my first fashion week party! It was the after party for Evan Biddell's show, the winner of Project Runway Canada. It was a fun night, people watching at its best. No one paid much attention to Em and I (we're not industry people or models, and weren't wearing quite the right clothes - case in point, apparently tights are quite big right now, and we both had bare legs between our skirts and boots.) which was fine with us. The lighting was interesting, because everyone wants to see what everyone else is wearing, so there were lots of lighted parts of the room, where people could preen and be seen. Everyone posed for everything! Pictures, friends, alcohol shots, whatever. It was pretty funny. Most of the men were gay, no one else could pull off those outfits. The straight men were fashionable, but I wonder how many of them were dressed by their significant others? Hmmmm. :)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Bike Riding on the Island and in Tommy Thomson Park

Three separate bike rides, three excellent adventures. Tommy Thompson Park is a big nature reserve just east of downtown. There's lots of paths to explore, although some of the roads are a bit dicey. The Islands were fantastic as usual. I love the quaint other world feeling of Ward Island, and the light off the water, through the clouds was stunning. Hanlan's Point Beach was quite warm for fall. My second foray into the park was more exploratory, all the way to the lighthouse. When I was on Ward Island, I could see the lighthouse in the park, and I was hoping that it would be vice versa, but the fog was so think, I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of myself. Oh well, maybe next time. I'm busy researching more places to bike ride, although I'm partial to being near the water. :)

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Veritas

Unbelievably good restaurant. All organic, locally sourced food, innovative combinations and display, truly a unique gastronomic experience. I had the Arctic Char sourced from some little farm in Kleinburg and D had Mennonite farm raised chicken with wild rice fritters. We shared a gorgeous chocolate ginger cake with caramel creme fraiche. The cappuccino was slightly disappointing, but that's ok. I've been meaning to try it for a while, and it was well worth the wait!

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

1st Bike Accident

Owie, owie, owie! In two years of regular commuting, I have never fallen, not even a wobble. But yesterday, I hit a streetcar track half buried in water, and went flying over my handlebars. I'm pretty banged up, with my left shin and right shoulder taking the worst of it. I even have a scrape on my chin, just like a scrappy kid. I'm glad I was wearing my helmet and that my instinct was to protect my head, that I didn't land under a car or transit vehicle and that I'm basically ok. Not riding the bike for a few days though. I have to get the alignment checked out, it actually feels funny. Ok, that's it, no more bike accidents!