thebitterguy

So, last night Cynra & I took in dinner at Zyng with Gorman and Theresa before we took in the Lewis Black show at the Winter Garden. Dinner and company were both delightful. We didn't have the opportunity to make it to the Browncoat dinner that night, unfortunately.

Black was hilarious, as always. He mused on current events (the economy, the new regime in the US, etc) as well as his own career, including having Vince Gill opening for him.

After the show we went to mr_weasel's house for his wife's b-day party.

It was there that I felt horrid.

You see, yesterday I wore my #24 memorial t-shirt. One of the other guests there turned out to also be a VB fan. One who hadn't seen season three.

Whoops. I am that most horrid of creatures, the sploiler. Sigh.

I drank my misery away, and we stayed to sing happy birthday and headed out.

So, last night I went downtown, ostensibly to hang with kinra, but also to do some anniversary present shopping.

One advantage of being married to a huge geek? EVERY year's a paper anniversary!

So, after rummaging through no less than four sections looking for a copy of Old Freaking Possum Where The Hell Is That Damn Book About Cats?, we gave in and I got her a book about Torchwood and the Onion's Our Dumb Century.

Whee! Shopping is fun, where fun=torment.

We grabbed some dinner at Salad King, which is an awesome Thai place that doesn't sound like it will be as tasty as it is. We checked out 401, where I showed kinra my good Dragon article. It still feels awesome on occasion.

So, yeah. I've wrapped her books up in a big picture of Steven McHattie screaming, and will get them to her tonight. Huzzah for TBG!

Enjoyable weekend. Cynra & I attended Seedy Saturday, which was... not remotely as fun as it's been previously.

While I have joked about it being wall to wall hippies before, this time it was literally true. The room was packed full. I don't know if it was a victim of success, an improperly used new venue, or poor planning, but it was way too full.

Cynra got some seeds and some seedlings and catnip. More on the catnip later. I managed to see anidada and her little one as well as Cats & sassy_fae for very brief stretches. I was pretty cranky by that point, as I was slowly braising in my coat.




Then, we headed downtown to pick up our tickets for The Wright Stuff, the showing of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz hosted by Edgar Wright. He took a picture of the crowd at the end. You can't see me too well, but I think I'm in there somewhere.

I love the guy in the front row who appears to be in Glabro form.

We grabbed dinner at the Pauper's Pub first. I headed out to get our spot in line while Cynra finished her dinner (and, yes, I am not thrilled by the fact I now go by the name "eight toes"). We were met by Ali & hazyone101 and we all headed in for the party.

It was a load of fun. He had some trailers in there too, including Robocop, a neat Lee Marvin film called Prime Cut, and Hard Target (was it as bad as I remember? Because I remember it making me think that this new Chinese guy wasn't all he was cracked up to be). He also showed the trailer for Don't, which remains great.

I kibbitzed with the guys from the Silver Snail during all that, which was a shock as they were friendly, which is not my general experience with that venue.

Wright also said he was proud of Mike Myers for taking a chance on The Love Guru. Isn't that nice.

It went late. The Q&A finished well after midnight, and Cynra & I got home later. I grabbed a slice of pizza at the Pizza Pizza at Queen & Bathurst, getting accosted by hawt drunk teenz. "You seem very serious, sir" are probably the most hurtful words ever said to me by a girl in a shimmery shirt.

This morning was breakfast with some friends, and then home for some laundry and relaxation.

I got Fight Club out of the library. She's watching it, oh yes. I also got a book called The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, which I will read at work. OH, NO REASON.

Torontoist.com has dug into the archives and found a treat for you.

At daybreak on the morning of August 10, 1930, His Majesty's Airship R-100—the British airship that had arrived in Montreal from England on August 1—made a surprise visit over Toronto. She hadn't been expected until 9 a.m., but just before dawn the faint droning of motors announced her presence over the harbour. Milkmen stopped their carts mid-route, diners and staff emptied from restaurants, and night-watchmen all gazed skyward to marvel at the ghostly sight of the airship against the moonlit sky. Ship whistles greeted the airship and woke its passengers. Across the city, people in pyjamas rushed outdoors to witness the history-making event.

rfmcdpei posted this a couple days ago, but I haven't had a chance to check out the article yet until now.

A while back, I expressed my desire to visit the gravesites of Canada's Prime Ministers.

I got off to a good start, getting to see the gravesite of Sir John A.

I kind of stalled out after that.

I went back to the Government's website and dl'd a PDF. I'm rather upset that two of the early PMs were buried in Halifax (Thompson and Tupper), and I missed out on my chance to visit their final resting places when I was down there.

I'll probably endeavour to add Alexander to the list when next we go to Novi via Sarnia. Or possibly make a trip on Rememberance Day. Or just go on some brisk winter morning.

Mackenzie Bowell, one of the PMs who had the most indignities heaped upon him, is buried in Belleville, which makes him an easy trip to make whenever I head to visit ACB.

Laurier and Borden are both buried in Ottawa, and I think Cynra and I are due for a visit up there.

Arthur Meighen is buried in St. Mary's, which is an hour and a half from home.

Mackenzie King is buried in Toronto's Mt. Pleasant cemetery, which is supposed to be a nice place to visit anyway (if you can avoid the claustrophobic vampires! Man, that book sucked). King is one of the most interesting of our national leaders, having led the country through World War II with counsel from his mother. Who was dead at the time.

The biggest obstacle to the whole thing is RB Bennet, the poor bastard who had to handle the recession of the '30s. He's buried in Surrey, England. That would be somewhere near France, I think.

That brings us up through the PMs who ran the country up until the end of WW II, which I think is a good start.

It looks so easy, written down like that.

In Conversation: Dave Gibbons and Mark Askwith
World's Biggest Bookstore, Toronto, Ontario
Sunday, November 2nd – 2:00 pm

Join us as Dave Gibbons, the renowned illustrator of Watchmen, discusses the genesis of his most famous work with Mark Askwith from Space Channel in this one-of-a-kind interview. Question and answer and book signing to follow. No memorabilia please.

I'm not sure if by "no memorabilia" they mean he'll only sign the book he's there to promote, or if they mean "don't bring him any stuff".

Still, I may try to make it out ot this.

God bless io9.com. If not for them, I never would have known about Battleawesome Awesomestar, an improv comedy show in TO based on Battlestar Galactica. It's at the Bad Dog Theatre for the next few weeks.

Going to it, of course, is another matter entirely for YHB. But for the TO based of y'all, that shouldn't be such a problem.

The Lights Went Out.

I talked about the original event here and I talked about it the next year here.

Quick question: Who here is going to be attending Toronto Trek/Polaris this weekend?

Yes, this question includes the people I'll be sharing a room with. Any out of town people coming? I was hoping to do some gaming, but then I just chuckled sadly to myself.

Seriously, they used to have a neat gaming corridor, where there were minis games and card games and rpgs. That's where I met gnaremoob during a B5 demo. Good times. Now they just have some rooms, but nothing scheduled.

Plus, they had the gall to schedule themselves against the Paradise Comiccon. Someone should start a petition!

I teef this from noizangel

( 47 Random Questions )