Fun and Games in T.O.

Tuesday March 26, 11:53 a.m.

Well, it's come to the point that whenever Mayor Rob Ford's name pops up in a broadcast, Torontonians' eyes roll to the back of the head with the dependence of an involuntary reflex. And so, the latest in the 2-year series of The Perils of Rob has "The Toronto Star" splashing this exclusive on the front page about allegations of alcohol abuse. Of course, the triumvirate of the Ford Brothers and Deputy Mayor Holyday immediately put up their shields and fired some warning phaser shots almost immediately after the news got out.

At this point, after all of the sturm und drang that has followed Rob Ford for the past couple of years with the court stuff and the recent accusation by a former election rival of sexual assault, it'll probably take even more than today's headline to have this news last beyond the better part of this week. Confidential sources are one thing, but I think it'll take some big names and absolute hand-in-the-cookie-jar proof to even dislodge anything. We've just gotten so inured to all of the bread and circuses.

And what about The Leafs? They took three out of four points from the Boston Bruins. Yep, the Buds aren't exactly great at shootouts but since once the game is at that stage, both teams are gonna come away with something, so it's not such a terrible thing to lose, aside from the pride aspect. But the big thing here is that not a lot of fans had expected Phaneuf, Kadri and company to get anything from the Bruins considering the past couple of years, so three points is pretty darn good.

Took that needed hour's walk today. Nope, not that cold but the winds are out there. I actually got a rare Monday off from translation. I got a heads-up last week from one of my colleagues that things could be a bit slower than usual for the next week or so since Japan is entering the final week of the fiscal calendar. Plus, April is the reset month for a lot of everything over there so the normal course of things will be disrupted for a bit. A lot of corporate parties for welcoming and saying goodbye will be in order for the next several weeks leading up to Golden Week.

Spring Supposedly

Monday March 18, 12:02 p.m.

Well, rumour has it that Spring is on its way, but despite the expert opinion of several large lumbering rodents in February, it's still gonna be plenty chilly here for this week. Plus, we've got some messy weather on the way as of 4 this afternoon. So, there may be some Vernal enthusiasts who are thinking up of some evil plots to cook groundhog.

Team Japan just lost to Puerto Rico in the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic in San Francisco, I believe. Probably a lot of disappointed folks over in Japan right now but after winning the first two championships, the country has nothing to be ashamed about. Plus, they can start back on how to regain the big prize for next time, and I think that's always more fun for everyone involved rather than trying to defend a championship.

Had my brother's family over for dinner last night. The usual pleasant time involved, including playing with my niece. But we did have one casualty in the form of the coffee carafe which ended its long life by cracking and pouring some fresh brewed onto the kitchen floor. Mom seemed to be quite eager in getting a new coffeemaker anyways.

Just been taking care of some invoicing and awaiting my next translation assignment which should be in sometime over the next few hours.

Looks like Pope Francis I is having an immediate effect on the world at large with his charm and Gorbachevian openness. I think Pope Benedict XVI is probably grumbling and muttering, "Dang whippersnapper!" And apparently, the leader of the Orthodox Christians is even gonna attend tomorrow's Papal Inauguration for the first time in a millenium. Rather unorthodox, if you ask me. (thank you, I play Vegas til Friday)

Soggy Start

Monday March 11, 12:09 pm

Well, pretty wet and gloomy out there, but at least it's warmer. However, the weather folks are saying that the minus temperatures are still gonna plague us later this week. The snow is melting, though, which is revealing a lot of stuff that the dogs left behind. There is also a dead raccoon nearby which the killer car driver deposited on the curb. I'm now considering calling Animal Services.

Not a great sports weekend for Canada or Toronto. The Leafs were squeaked out of a win by the Penguins on Saturday...the Buds did show heart but just couldn't beat Crosby or Malkin. And of course, there was that kerfuffle with Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic against Team Mexico; there has been some back-&-forth since then with the Blue Jays' Jose Bautista putting in his two nickels by scolding Canada for trying to run up the score. And then Canada had to go home with their tails between their legs after collapsing against the USA yesterday. However, Toronto FC did provide a glimmer of good news by winning its first game since last July.

Still waiting for my regular translation assignment from the company; apparently, things are a bit slow in Japan today. But today is the 2nd anniversary of the big Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami, so I'm sure people are being quite reflective. I'm finding the media coverage quite interesting depending on the country. Of course, NHK and probably the commercial networks in Japan have been providing very somber and wistful programs about 3/11, and NHK was visiting a lot of individuals in the affected areas to get their impressions and reminiscences, but very little has been shown about the progress of the cleanup. On the other hand, CNN and BBC have been focusing on that aspect of the disaster aftermath, and showing that after 2 years, not much has been done. It was the first time in several months that I've seen anything on the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster still in progress, and that was through BBC only. The reporter for the British network remarked that in a society where consensus-building is often still paramount, there has been little consensus built about how to fix something this enormous which would explain the delay. I think the Japanese media's take on it is that the ramifications will simply not go away for decades, so it's sho ga nai...let's work on the emotional healing and getting people to regain their energy and confidence to work around the difficulties while the upper echelons deal (or try to deal) with them directly. NHK's report did pick up on one angle and that was whether the memories of the disaster have started to fade; apparently, corporate and perhaps private contributions to the quake-affected areas have fallen by a huge margin, and the weekly protests in front of Parliament against nuclear power have also shrunk (although there was a huge parade in downtown Tokyo yesterday). I think the fading is a natural thing and is part of the healing process, but I was surprised at how quickly the fade has been in the country itself. But at the same time, the national TV network has been keeping up its end of the bargain by broadcasting a lot of programming on the situation over the months.

Family Day, Foodie Weekend

Wednesday February 20, 12:23 p.m.

Been a while. Being away all those years, I still need to be reminded that, yes, there is an actual long weekend in February now....at least for 3 provinces in this country. And I think having the Family Day Weekend is a necessity during a time of year when Xmas is long past us and Winter has outgrown its welcome.

Certainly, this past Saturday gave us a good reminder why Ol' Man Winter needs to get going. Although, the weather on that day was not quite the big storm from a couple of weeks ago, the snow and winds made for some treacherous driving on the highways...which is why I felt a little badly that my old friends, CG and The Entrepreneur with respective families in tow, came to my neck of the woods for a brief dinner at a place called Congee Star in the Don Mills and Eglinton area. When we had made the plans to meet up, there wasn't too much of a sign of the nutso weather, but still, it was very good of them to trudge on up all the way from the West End of town. It was brief....about a couple of hours since the kids were still very young, but it was good to chat for a while over har gow and brisket. I'll definitely head over to Mississauga next time since the two of them have raved about this restaurant called Spoon and Fork.

Sunday was the official Family Day for my clan. We decided on doing The Keg up on Leslie. I made reservations which was the smartest thing to do since when we got there at 6 pm, there was a ton of folks waiting to get a table....and the parking was something reminiscent of Yorkdale Plaza on Xmas Eve. I don't think I've had a Keg steak in a few years....went for the Baseball Top Sirloin. I wasn't disappointed; my steak looked like a slab of beef with a thyroid condition. Definitely not the definition of a Kobe steak. It was thick, juicy and was seasoned quite well. Just the right amount of salt and pepper...which probably means that it was still too much. Thick steak isn't exactly popular with a number of Japanese....they like their beef thin and melt-in-your-mouth, kinda like sukiyaki. I've told my old students in the past that here in the Americas, chewing a bite for several seconds before swallowing is part of the pleasure of enjoying a good steak. I don't think I saw that many shrugs in one room before.

Then on the holiday Monday was the biweekly meeting with The Anime King. We just can't seem to catch a break with The Olde York Fish N' Chips place on Laird. It was closed for Family Day and it's closed regularly on Sundays. So instead it was off to one of our regular Dim Sum places up in Scarberia. Not surprisingly, it was pretty brisk business there. Afterwards, it was the usual mix of Second Cup, Timmies and a few hours of anime before dinner at Tako Sushi nearby. It was my second time there, and I guess because of the Family Day weekend, there was a lineup there to rival that of what I'd witnessed at The Keg. The King didn't make any reservations but it was just a 10-minute wait.

Couldn't get a place at any of the teppanyaki tables like last time, so the two of us settled for a regular booth and the entrees. The King went for his steak dinner while I opted for tonkatsu. Tako Sushi tonkatsu is frankly more thin wiener schnitzel than Japanese deep-fried pork cutlet....which may be why I got three flat wide slabs of the pork. Tonkatsu in Japan is pretty thick stuff with plenty of shredded cabbage; one slab for lunch is enough to keep you sated until dinner. But I'm not gonna get snobby about it since I enjoyed the dinner just the same.

The King and I had a talk about possibly getting as many of the Court together for a bigger dinner, perhaps as soon as early March. But again, a couple of our number are established family men so I have my doubts whether the entire group can get together but it'll still be nice to have a group outing that doesn't involve a Ribfest. Perhaps The Baton Rouge may be the venue.

Back in the regular work week. I actually got an assignment done for translation yesterday. And I sent the invoice to Cozy for the first of the annual financial statements. Was a bit disappointed that I didn't get too many more during the two weeks that I kept open for him, so I'm potentially gonna have to deal with both Cozy's requests and those of the translation company.

Charlie and Wayne

courtesy of maurisico
from Flickr

courtesy of M. D'Evreux
from Flickr

Wednesday January 23, 2:43 p.m.

Yesterday was a marathon session to get that mammoth translation assignment in on time. Gave myself some virtually permanent katakori by tapping away at the keyboard for hours. And sure enough, I have another big assignment due next week. But ain't touching that today....nope, gonna give myself a bit of a break. Mind you, if I had to be cocooned in the apartment, it would've been and should've been yesterday. It was rather cold out there with a high of only -12 C

But I couldn't just stay at home all day today....would've gone stir crazy. And so with it being -18 C this morning, I had my first experience of really cold weather for the first time in decades. It was bracing out there although I was fully equipped, tonsorially speaking. Had the scarf and longjohns on. It was rather nice, though, walking through that cold. Felt positively Canadian again.

Now, as for the title today. I heard and saw a couple of stories....one which is true, one which is not (at least not for now or the near future). First, the true one. Apparently the voice actor behind Charlie Brown was nabbed by police....for stalking, of all things. This is probably gonna be a dream target for the late night show hosts. And strangely enough, couldn't you see perpetually depressed Charlie Brown growing up to become a stalker? His obsession with the Little Red-Haired Girl going to extremes? In any case, I can imagine if some reporter were able to stick a microphone in the actor-turned-jailbird's face, the first thing he probably would say, "RATS"! That is, after he got nabbed by the cops when he exclaimed, "AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGH!"

The other story that got Toronto going crazy like a fox was the rumour that The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky, could become the next President of the Maple Leafs, occupying the place left by ousted Brian Burke. Not sure how this one got started, but it was probably a reporter who just decided to throw something into the mix when he/she was interviewing one of the new powers-that-be of the hockey team. I was too busy and stressed out yesterday to catch TV but apparently the media was having a field day with it. But can you imagine Gretzky, the best hockey player in NHL history and with his record as a businessman in the sport, coming to this town....the so-called Mecca of Hockey? Just hard for me to imagine a guy like him leaving the sunny confines of California in happy retirement, though. But then again, if someone finally gets him that money from the Phoenix Coyotes, perhaps he could see Toronto as the ultimate challenge worthy of his talents and time.

Christmas Market and The Hobbit

Thursday December 20, 8:12 p.m.

Been a while. I've always wanted to take a look down here, so last Friday I took the Parliament 65 bus past my old neighbourhood of nearly 40 years ago, St. James Town, and Cabbagetown. Finally, I got off at the Distillery, an area that I've heard so often about over the year I've been back in Toronto but had never visited. Much like Cherry Beach, my old images of the area consisted of deserted fields and old sugar mills. Obviously, not anymore.

The weather was frankly un-Xmas-like. Balmy for December and so of course, not a flake of snow to be seen or felt. But with the Market finishing up on the 16th, I couldn't wait for the weather to make things appropriate. And of course, being the morning, the atmosphere was that much more un-Xmas-like (Christmas markets are probably far more festive in the evening with the illumination on). Still, with a bunch of high school kids having fun, and scenes like this one to the left here, the Market did have its charm.

I also got a chance to partake in my first stollen. I'd seen a program back in Japan which featured the famous German dessert being sold at the Xmas markets over there. This one I bought was actually produced in Peterborough, but I wasn't complaining at all. I think for those folks who treat the annual fruitcake as a seasonal punchline would probably enjoy a stollen far better. The texture is between that of a cake and a bread, and it has a slight sweetness instead of the hazy booziness of a fruitcake. It'd be perfect for dunking in coffee.



I enjoyed my little stroll through the Market, but next year, I'll see if I can come during a meteorologically appropriate night, although some of the weather folks are saying that a snowless December is probably gonna be the norm in T.O.

Later in the evening, I met up with The Anime King and The Anime Bishop over at Empress Walk in North York to catch "The Hobbit". I was never all that much of a Tolkienite, but I did catch the entire trilogy of "Lord of the Rings" with MB in my Japan days and enjoyed it. But like those three movies, "The Hobbit"was one of those movies that I probably wouldn't have gone to see if I hadn't been invited. We definitely got the full effects with this movie. Peter Jackson had thrown in the 48 frames/second gimmick (not ready by any means to call it a revolution), and it was in 3D.

First off, I saw the 9-minute prelude for the next "Star Trek"movie. Yep, happily, it was much better than the similar presentation for "Tron: Legacy". Still, I'm not sure if it was a prelude or if it's something I'm gonna see as part of the main movie next May. J.J. Abrams is continuing to knock down sacred cows....hasn't killed off any other major characters yet but he's got the Enterprise going as the 23rd-century's most famous submarine. Looks like fun, although from the prelude, I wonder if this version of the franchise seems to be emulating a space-age version of "American Pie" with a less horny bunch.

As for the main feature, "The Hobbit"did its job. The 3 hours whizzed by quickly enough; never looked at my watch even once, although I think the first several minutes could've been easily cut.  I guess Jackson still has that problem that he had with "King Kong"several years ago. Now, as for that 48 frames per second....well, it didn't make me nauseous at all, but it did feel like I was watching a giant video presentation of a BBC drama. And although the characters' faces didn't look exactly like moving representations of craggy topography, they took on a more detailed hue which may be potentially interesting if the gimmick is ever used in some of the legendary dramas such as the ones by Shakespeare. Still, I'd love to see Clint Eastwood or Tommy Lee Jones being filmed that way.

Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII

Tuesday December 4, 7:33 p.m.

I only heard the news on NHK just half an hour ago, but kabuki actor Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII passed away less than 6 hours previously in hospital. I was never a kabuki fan but his face and name were very well known to anyone who watches TV in Japan due to his fairly frequent appearances on talk shows and commercials. Of course, his stock in trade was on the stage portraying his various characters.

An acquaintance of mine back in Tokyo was his acupuncturist, and he told me that the actor had always been a very introspective deep thinker. The story of his death was the top story on NHK, and it looks like a lot of the commercial stations' morning shows were scrambling to get a fitting tribute story done for him. I was surprised to hear that he had passed since he was only 57 years old, although I knew that he had suffered from early stage esophagal cancer.

I think this video of him and his troupe performing in Berlin back in 2008 will give a tiny insight about his life as a kabuki actor.

Oh, Geek

Wednesday November 28, 10:39 a.m.

Had another round of translations yesterday. Got those done and may get another assignment in an hour or so. Not too, too difficult but the feedback can always blow back any satisfaction.

Yup, the geek inside me....80%; the other 20% is makeup....got some intriguing information via the movie site "Dark Horizons". I found out that the two British thespian knights, Sir McKellen and Sir Stewart, will be coming onto the next "X-Men" project. Of course, I'm thrilled since when those two were in the original trilogy (overall, a mediocre trio), any scene that involved them was easily up there with the best scenes. But at first, I had wondered how they were going to be shoehorned into this new series; then I realized that the title was "Days of Future Past". Somewhere in one of the filing cabinets, I have the original comic books for that story arc, and everything started to make sense....or as much sense as that story had.

Then, came the rumours about this supposed "Justice League" movie that's in the works after the success of "The Avengers" this summer. Apparently Joseph Gordon-Levitt may be playing the new Batman (not Nightwing?!). If this is actually true, then "The Dark Knight Rises" served to be a launching point for the new Caped Crusader.

And of course, news on the new "Star Trek" movie had to come out. Once again, another threat comes to Earth which means only the Enterprise can save the day. Well....not exactly news there.

All I can say is that millions of "Big Bang Theory"-like kaffeeklatsches (kolaklatsches?) of geeks are probably going into heated discussions over their cocoa right now. After reading some of this, I'll take mine with a huge crystal of salt.

Hey, can't wait to see the new "Doctor Who" Xmas special. I still think the swan song for Amy and Rory was ugly....

Behe Right or Behe Wrong?

Monday November 19, 4:11 p.m.

Usually when I get up early on a Sunday and head on out, it's because of another day of food-and-anime with The Anime King. Yesterday, I did indeed get up early...in fact, it was the earliest I'd ever been up on a Sunday in Toronto at 6:30 a.m.....but it wasn't for my good friend. Instead, it was for the argument of Intelligent Design!

I'm not a religious person at all. Never have been, never will be. But my fine sister-in-law is very much so. We've gotten along well with no problems, though, and we've barely touched upon the topic that separates us. However, a few weeks ago, she informed me about a series of lectures that Dr. Michael Behe was giving at places like the University of Toronto, and asked me if I would be interested in taking a look at one of them. Well, I was a bit intrigued about what Intelligent Design was all about, although I was pretty confident that my religious non-beliefs would not be swayed.

And so yesterday, my brother and my bleary-eyed self went to a Richmond Hill community church gym to hear this professor from Pennsylvania give this talk. My brother had been expecting a lot of the dyed-in-the-wool middle-aged and elderly folks just to show up, but to his surprise, half of the audience was quite a bit younger than us. In any case, Dr. Behe gave a talk on his concept of Irreducible Complexity which explains that some systems are so complex that they cannot be broken down into simpler units....he used the common mouse trap as an analogy for the common cell. Why can the cell function with its parts such as mitochondria or cilia? Obviously having given this talk so often and so long, his delivery was as smooth as silk, bringing in some pop cultural references such as "Calvin & Hobbes", "The Far Side" and even the "Ghostbusters" logo. He also spoke of that famous sci-fi trope of individual cells being microscopic organic machines. And yes, he did hint at the firestorm of controversy between Intelligent Design and Darwinism, likening the lot of Designers to life in the old Soviet Union.

There were a few questions from the audience at the end of the talk but despite the host's proud assertions of some of the liveliness of the talks downtown, I think giving a talk involving a battle over the origins of life and biochemistry is never going to be an easy sell on a Sunday morning when people may not have had their coffee and bacon n' eggs. As for me, what I got from Dr. Behe's talk was that after nearly 2 centuries, Darwinism is getting slightly ragged and there are perhaps some holes forming in that quilt, but I'm not as eagerly willing to fill those holes with a divine solution as Dr. Behe has been. Perhaps there still are scientific explanations out there but not yet discovered. Maybe higher beings did come to this Earth millions of years ago and planned everything out, but I certainly won't say that they were supernatural ones.  Another interesting observation is that Behe never directly said that God was responsible for creating things such as the parts of a cell, although the fact that he was speaking from the middle of a church intimated things clearly enough for me, at least.

Still, the good doctor seemed like the type to have a good friendly debate about this over a beer. If it hadn't been for the fact that the both of us were constrained by time, I probably would have approached him for a question or two afterwards.

Behe can be found anywhere on the Net, but here's one page: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/behe.html

And here's a YouTube of one of his lectures:

Thumbs-Up and Club Day

Easy to remember....think the Fonz!
AAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Mine....all mine!

Wednesday September 12, 11:51 a.m.

Yesterday, I continued on my new regimen of walking briskly for an hour every other day. But I took it downtown. And there was a stopover for lunch in Koreatown. I had been hoping that there would be some of those special food trucks in front of the Hot Docs theatre where some of the TIFF movies were showing. But no such luck, or they were more of a nightly thing. Still, I had the backup in the form of the Thumbs-Up Eatery.






For $6, this is what I could get...and what I've been getting for most of the times I've gone there with Shard. A nice heaping of Pork Kimchi and Rice with complementary kimchi, sprouts and pickled cabbage. Yup, this is what one can get for less than $10 even in Toronto....and it doesn't come with fries. The kimchi in the main dish was slightly sweeter. I'm more for totally savory kimchi but still, this is the dish that I usually order when I come to Thumbs-Up.

Hot Docs

This was the scene at the Hot Docs on my way into Koreatown. Yup, quite a lineup even in the morning. TIFF is starting to wind down according to the photos showing celebs heading out from Pearson. For the last leg of my walk, I ended up going past the Bell Lightbox once again, and the feeling was a lot less exciting than it was almost a week prior.

Et tu, Chicken Parmagiana?

Afterwards, I decided to veer into University of Toronto. The St. George Campus is always a good area for a walk. However, I was unaware that Club Day was going on. In my day, all of the clubs would be inside the atrium of Sid Smith, but this time everyone was outside on a closed-off St. George St. (I'm sure drivers were mouthing off at the MPP in the area). A lot of kids were strolling through the area browsing the various clubs and associations. And of course, where there are kids, there are food trucks. And boy, these trucks are getting more decoratively elaborate. No wonder the prices for food are going up!

 Still, despite any rancor from the drivers not being able to go down St. George, it's a good idea to have this sort of festival atmosphere for a Club Day. It was the perfect weather and a lot more logical for clubs to get tons more space to recruit frosh.

Heck, these clubs are really getting more specific! I wonder if Hart House will rent equipment from Janitorial Services for this club.

Loopers and Losers

Friday September 7, 5:28 p.m.

Well, the Toronto International Film Festival has arrived. It's my first one since when I left for Japan 18 years ago, the TIFF was really nowhere near as big as it is now. Now, it's become a bellwether for the big awards shows like the Oscars and the Golden Globes....and a celeb magnet.
It's been remarkable how the local media has been treating TIFF. It's being covered like a cinematic Olympics with reporters and telecasters using terms like Day 1 and making the festival the top news story. The Tokyo International Film Festival is still embryonic on that level. Unless people living there are big cinephiles, the Japanese TIFF is just a mere diversion of interest.
So yesterday after lunch, I walked down to King St. and noticed that the segment of the street between Spadina and University was a whole lot more crowded than usual, especially the part in front of the Bell Lightbox.

To be honest, it's not my intention to catch any of the movies....at least not for this year, although I do have some interest in "Looper", the time-traveling thriller with Bruce Willis. And I certainly wasn't expecting to see any celebs when I went down there yesterday. But I was keen on seeing what the hoopla was all about. I passed by the front of the Lightbox a couple of times; saw a lot of orange-wearing TIFF volunteers, and most likely star handlers...I could detect them from the cellphones permanently attached to their ears.

No celebs per se, but there were a few journalists and cameramen looking for spots to do their reports. CTV, CBC and CP24 were all represented. The unions going up against Bell Telephone were also well represented as they were trying to air their grievances via flyers and placards.

Over the next several days, TIFF will be scattering itself throughout downtown, but the Lightbox is TIFF Central. And I can imagine the restaurants across the street on King have been and will reap the benefits of a hungry group of moviegoers and celebwatchers. I passed by those places and there were staffers outside greeting and enticing potential diners.

This is the red carpet. At around 1 p.m. yesterday, it was about as lonely as Charlie Brown on Valentine's Day, but since last night it's probably been covered by more stars than Heidi Fleiss' black book.

TIFF will be around for all this weekend and next week. Chances are that I will be downtown somewhere then. Maybe I will take that long walk around Yorkville and Bloor. But for me, there is a theatre on Bloor West that seems to have attracted a whole ton of food trucks. I will definitely have to check that action out. But maybe, just maybe, I might finally get that celeb on digital.

Now, as for the "loser"part of this entry. Apparently, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been tarred and feathered as the Worst Sports Team in North America by ESPN or some sports magazine. All I can say is "What?! You only came to that realization just now?" When I heard that the NHL could face a lockout strike next week, I could only sigh in relief. After the debacle of last season and the diminishing returns of the playoffs, I'm really not in any hurry to catch any professional ice hockey. Well, at least it's now official. If there is any sliver of a silver lining here, it's that anything the Leafs do this season (provided that there is a season) that looks hopeful will be a major victory.

Quiet Weekend

Jamie Bamber

Monday August 27, 1:45 a.m.

Well, I took a look at my analytics and discovered that there was someone looking for Jamie Bamber at the FanExpo, so I've decided to be nice and uploaded a fuzzy photo of him. He's definitely gone a lot more Californian in his hairstyle.

I've had my first totally at-home weekend in a few weeks. No one was calling me up to go out, and there were no Anime King trips this weekend. Next weekend should be a whole different animal, though, since it will be the Labour Day Weekend, and there is that mass migration to the Burlington Ribfest.

It was a good thing that nothing was going on this time around since I've been given my first massive translation assignment. Nothing but tax returns from Japanese to English. My due date isn't for several days, but the assignment editor told me that the client may want some partial uploads of completed stuff within the next few days. It's pretty arduous though. The big boss will be returning from vacation tomorrow so he may be contacting me about what my decision is about accepting that big hunk of translation software. Luckily, my brother has secured a new laptop for me so it's just a matter of waiting one more week.

I think I've also been lucky in that I haven't been contacted by the school for the last number of days. Again, I'm not particularly sure what the higher-ups there think of me since I have declined as many teaching assignments as I have accepted them. But as I've hinted, although the students are nice enough folks, I've never particularly settled in there all that comfortably.

Fan Expo 2012

South Building of Toronto Convention Centre

Saturday August 25, 9:32 a.m.

Finally got that chance to head over to Fan Expo 2012 yesterday. I'd heard on CP24 that it's become the 3rd-largest event of its kind in North America...and I can believe it. It wasn't too bad in the morning, although there was a minor annoyance when I tried to get into the South Building entrance and staff told me I had to go through the North Building to redeem my e-ticket. Coulda told me that online, man. But by the afternoon, it felt like old times on the Tokyo subway line during rush hour. The weather was very cooperative, though.

Truly a Canadian sci-fi convention.

The first area I passed through was the enormous food court....just one of three. The organizers were ready for the hungry hordes. Doing cosplay and waiting for autographs can make a fellow rather peckish. I got to the Expo at about 11, so things weren't too busy as of yet....I decided (and rightfully so) to grab a bite to eat before things got nuts there. I ended up not with a HOT dog, but a Tepid Dog. I chowed it down but was worried for about an hour whether I would end up with some sort of gastrointestinal distress. But it seems like my GI tract was up to the challenge. The food was mostly of the basement-friendly variety but I did see an Edo Sushi stand at Food Court 2. Actually, by chance, I ran into an old acquaintance from the Japanese Consulate just before I entered JET. Apparently, he's still working there as one of the veteran advisors.

Artists' Row

This was only my 2nd sci-fi convention that I'd ever attended. The first one was back a couple of years ago when I went to a "Star Wars"-based gala at Makuhari Messe in Chiba-ken. It was a bit more loosey-goosey over there...Anthony (C-3PO) Daniels was more than happy to walk around the area with his video cam while the adoring crowds surrounded him with cellphone cameras. Fan Expo was definitely a tighter affair....everyone knew where they were to be placed depending on their category: sci-fi, anime, horror, etc. 

Yep, she's the one....Sailor Moon!

All of the various organizations, artists and celebs make a convention interesting and informative, but ultimately, what makes it fun are the visitors. I think it was worth my $33 just to see all of the folks who let their inner geek out and play dress up. Every convention just needs to have a Sailor Moon attend. I saw my share of Starfleet officers, Sailor Scouts and Doctors Who walking up and down the aisles.

Christopher Lloyd in profile

Director John Carpenter

John Barrowman

Yup, there were celebs in force out there. Arguably, two of the most famous were Stan Lee and Christopher Lloyd. As at any other convention, you gotta shuck out the bling to get their autographs and even more for a personalized photo with the star. And of course, as at any other convention, people will try to get that photo for free with the wonders of cellphone technology. The convention crew was pretty good-natured about trying to discourage people from taking random shots, although there was the one crew Nazi. Still, I could get Doc Brown on the DeLorean later in the afternoon.

The strictness of the no-photo policy varied greatly though, depending on where you were. For example, I could get a very clear one of director John Carpenter without getting tackled by a crew member. But when it came to Stan Lee, his area was triple-teamed by security...there was absolutely no way he was gonna get paparazzi'ed.

And there's John Barrowman from "Doctor Who"and "Torchwood". I also saw LeVar Burton, Jamie Bamber and Nana Visitor but just couldn't get a shot of those folks. The lines were long and many in this area. Going back to that "Star Wars" convention in Chiba, there was the same setup for the celebs there, too. It was weird seeing a huge snake-like line for the guy who had played Darth Maul, while Peter (Chewbacca) Mayhew was all by his lonesome a couple of tables down....he was just reading a book. No chance of that at FanExpo. The love was spread out pretty equally.

Gotta Dance!

Dang, Sylvester McCoy, you've been regenerating, have you?

"This isn't the droid I am looking for."

Yup, plenty of stuff to do besides playing video games, gawking at celebs and perusing comic books. There has to be some sort of physical activity. Just put aside any inhibitions....and pride...at the door and dance away all that pizza, pop and pretzels.

The "Doctor Who" group was very well-represented at the Expo; they were out in the main foyer, along with the Ontario Ghostbusters (Who ya gonna call, eh?). The members are probably getting fairly chuffed about the premiere of the new season next week. I saw a number of "Star Trek"paraphernalia here and there but there didn't seem to be any central Trekkie booth. May be time to get that next "Star Trek"movie off and running fast.

The Dancer and her family showed up at around 1 p.m. They have a much more logical way of navigating through the convention; just go up and down the rows. I've always been more for the randomized method of ambling to wherever strikes my fancy. The kids were looking for stuff for Halloween, and so one of them got her elf ears while both kids got ocarinas.

My four hours at FanExpo was fun and raucous. I could be enticed to wear a costume next time around, even in the summer heat. Maybe I will shuck out the big bucks for that autograph. I can only imagine what the San Diego ComiCon is like. But now I think I will aim for Anime North next year.

Walking Around Front and Lakeshore

Thursday August 23, 9:42 a.m.

Well, after getting the initial report from the doc about being overweight....as if that was actually a revelation (I actually had to convince myself the bathroom mirror was a real one and not the circus one), I decided to make an effort to move around yesterday. So, I killed two birds with one stone and headed down to the St. Lawrence Market to pick up some St. Urbain bagels
Of course, losing weight being my new mission, the first thing I did was make a beeline toward The Carousel Bakery and buy a Chicken Parmigiana sandwich with Coke. Curse my counter-intuitiveness! At $6.20 for the sandwich, I think it is well worth the money. There is heart that goes into this meal: the hot or sweet peppers and the zestfully crusty bread. I could even eat the sandwich without the chicken!

"Thank yuh, thank yuh verra much!"

Now, as for that second bird I killed with my rock, I decided to do a 2-hour walk all around the Lakeshore area. When I went out of St. Lawrence Market, I noticed that some of those buskers were already showing their wares, even though Buskerfest isn't officially open until noon today. There were the usual people on stilts, jugglers and acrobats, but there was also Silver Elvis, getting set up beside his red-and-white convertible.
It's gonna be a great weekend down on Front St. Buskerfest to the east, and FanExpo to the west.

Yup, I can imagine this place as the venue
for a sci-fi convention.

Well, there was even a small sparrow I blew up with another pebble. Since I will be going to the annual Fan Expo (for the first time) with The Dancer and her family tomorrow, I also opted to check out where and how to get to the South Building of the Convention Centre where the Expo will be held. I took the long way over by going through the North Building and going up escalators to the skyway linking the two buildings together. Most likely, though, I will be taking Simcoe Street down when I get there tomorrow. Not sure what I'll be expecting when I attend it a little more than 24 hours from now. Being a geek fest, I may need to be aware of a lack of personal hygiene.

I continued my walk in earnest by going all the way down to the Lakeshore and heading west toward Exhibition Place. Man, has this area all along the waterfront (Lake Ontario) metamorphosized over the past 20 years! Nothing but condos everywhere. It looks like one of the dreamscape scenes from "Inception". When I was a kid, the area was just nothing but an industrial wasteland with smelly sugar mills. I saw one on my walk...I guess as a memento of what was.

I finally made it as far as The Princess Gates, the entrance way for The Canadian National Exhibition. I may head there sometime next week. I hadn't been there in well over a decade, and frankly at my age, nostalgia can be established as a glandular secretion now. I hear that the theme food this year is bacon; not just of the Canadian kind, but all kinds...and in all kinds of food, including those of the dessert variety. Not sure if I'm quite that adventurous anymore.

Perhaps, I was a bit too ambitious with my 2 hours. By the time I returned to Front Street, I was in serious need of hydration and my left hip was starting to bother me. I dropped in on a Timmy's and glugged down an Iced Latte before heading back home. I'll just aim for 90 minutes next time....which I will attain tomorrow as I make my way thought a FanExpo.

Taste of the Danforth and BBQ

Monday August 13, 10:41 a.m.

Since my period of time in Japan was from 1994 to 2011, I had missed out on the birth and maturing of The Taste of the Danforth in Greektown. In a way, I think I still missed out since I dropped by a couple of hours before it officially opened for its final day on Sunday. So, basically, I arrived when people were just setting up. Of course, the question is why would I get to a foodie festival before it actually set up?

Well, I had that BBQ at CG's place all the way out in Oakville so I couldn't stay on The Danforth, but I needed to bring something to the party. If there's one thing that's been hammered into me, it's that one doesn't go to a house empty-handed. Ever.

I was walking around Greektown for a number of minutes, looking for something to get when I came across this bakery called Dough Bakeshop. The folks inside were pretty busy but I did venture whether they could whip up a couple of boxes of sausage rolls as they had advertised on the signboard. I caught a couple of the women there off-guard but just as I was about to rescind my request, the head baker inside yelled out that it could be done and to come back in 40 minutes. I didn't really mean to make such a rush order; I'd thought that I could get whatever was on the shelves but what was done was done. I had the time to spare so I just cooled my heels outside and came back. I was definitely grateful to Dough for the rush order considering that they were probably going to be crazy busy on the final day of The Taste, so I left a nice tip for them. The boxes were definitely warm and CG was grateful.

As for the BBQ itself, everything went off without a hitch. Although the GO Train out to Clarkson was a couple of minutes late, it turned out that CG himself was running a bit late so everything worked out. He and his family had moved out to their new house in Oakville a year ago from Markham, so they live in a pretty grand home. Got to see some old faces like The Entrepreneur and his young family and met some new ones in the form of former Japan hands like me. The weather, which had been threatening rain, remarkably held off so the BBQ could get off the ground without any need to flee inside.

Japanese Dance and Hibari Misora

Monday August 13, 10:15 a.m.

It was a pretty miserable day on Saturday when I went up to The Toronto Buddhist Church to catch my friend's dance recital there. It was actually my first time to the church in its new location and configuration. I'd used to go with my family to the old one on Bathurst St. deeper into downtown way back in the 70s, but not to pray but to watch Japanese drama videos on that newfangled contraption called a VCR. The old church had that traditional thatched-roof architecture, but this new one up north looks more Tadao Ando.

This buyokai was dedicated to the music of Hibari Misora, one of the singing legends of modern Japanese music. In terms of comparative status, I'd peg her with Elvis Presley and The Beatles in terms of how much an effect she had on the Japanese population. Her untimely death in 1989 at the age of 52 may have had Japan unofficially declaring a day or two of national mourning. Misora, through her music, led the people through the dark early days of the Postwar period all the way to the end of the Economic Bubble days of the late 80s. Her nom de genre was enka but she was known to have gone into jazz and even pop. I can't say, though, that I'm a huge fan of hers but since she released over 1,200 songs during her 40-year career, there are a number of them that I know just from hearing the opening notes.

These were the dancers...or at least, some of them...unfortunately, we were forbidden to take pictures during the performance itself. I was joined by The Dancer's family and so we all saw about 20 different performances all done to Misora's songs over the decades. The audience mostly consisted of folks older than me, so I was pretty sure that her music had an even more resonant effect on them. As for my friend, she performed a couple of dances....one in which she portrayed an old-fashioned Japanese thief in all-black, Her daughter also had a dance as well with two other young girls.

I would be rather intrigued if there were ever a similar buyokai done to the strains of Seiko Matsuda. Yes, I am being sarcastic here.

My Kingdom for a Barber

Friday August 3, 10:58 p.m.

Went to my corner barber for that $8 trim. The guy got it done in less than 10 minutes. Still, after having gone there 4 times since my return back to Canada, I'm now wondering if I should opt for something a bit more expensive, a bit more farther away, but with a bit more class. I went into the shop and just saw one....barber....just splayed all over the waiting area chairs like my Dad on the sofa on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Didn't look one bit sheepish either. For $8, I don't expect   Royal service but man, that just wasn't right. I didn't understand the language they were speaking, but the splayed girl probably said to the guy who ended up with my cut, "Hey, it's your turn!"

I didn't get particularly nostalgic for my trips to the barber during my long years in Japan, but I have to say that the service was absolutely top-notch. Despite paying the yen equivalent of $50 each time, I got a great cut, shampoo (twice), head and neck massage, coffee/tea (hot/cold depending on the season) and some good conversation. I actually looked forward to my bi-monthly tonsorials despite the certainty of a lighter wallet. I haven't had the same feelings with my current shop.

Here is a 40-minute video of a visit to a Japanese barber. The barber does everything but the head and shoulder massage which was a bit of a surprise to me.

And this is an excerpt of one other visit to a barber during the scalp-and-shoulder rubdown.

Enjoy!

Another roaster of a day

Monday July 23, 9:51 a.m.

Yup, it'll be another sweatbath in the GTA. I think it's going up to about 35 degrees again with a 44-degree Humidex. Kinda wonder how the electricity grid is gonna hold up today...I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few brownouts.

Usually at this time, I would be teaching somewhere in the school for the morning, but one of the staffers sent e-mail a few days ago giving me notice that I wouldn't be needed. I checked my inbox; no sign of the translator boss either. Kinda nice being in Limbo.

I checked out the Fan Expo website. It's gonna be held down at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from August 22-26. Of course, I totally overestimated the ticket pricing. Having thought the prices would be over a hundred bucks for the day, I found out that they're actually only hovering around the $30 mark. Even an unlimited access pass for all 4 days is just $95. Heck, I can handle that. I've sent word to The Dancer and she'll give me the go-word.

There is the special Unlimited Access to Patrick Stewart Pass....for a pittance of $299. He comes to our fair city on Sunday. As much as I would love to meet Captain Picard/Professor X in the flesh, paying that much moolah just seems a bit too extravagant for me. And most likely, if I actually bought the pass, I'd end up a gibberish-spouting wreck. I kinda wonder how the man himself feels about doing these special privileges for the fans. Does he genuinely feel happy about meeting these well-to-do Trekkies or does he go through the motions like at any other job?

One Wish

Monday July 23, 12:55 a.m.

Earlier in the month, Japan celebrated an annual ritual called Tanabata on the 7th. Depending on where you live in Japan, the custom can range a fair bit in terms of celebration. But in every place, people write their wishes down on coloured strips of paper and tie them up to the branches of a tree.

Of course, we don't have that ritual here in Canada. But if I could, I would write down for the violence to end not just in my hometown, which has had an unprecedentedly bloody week in the number of shootings and deaths, but also in Aurora Colorado where that horrible mass movie massacre took place. And there is the genocide going on in Syria, and all sorts of mayhem happening all over the globe that is not getting reported. I just want it to all end.

Gargling

courtesy of Andruu's that
psykoo babbler
of Flickr

Saturday July 21, 12:27 p.m.

One of the stranger aspects of Japanese culture that I came across was the act of gargling. I mean, over here you see some people doing it at home or on a sitcom as a gag (no pun intended) device. But it's not something that I would say is all that common.

However, in Japan, it's virtually a must-do in the annals of good hygiene and preventative medicine. Heck, even companies have gargling stations like the one to the left of me so that the working minions can clear out their throat of any sort of harmful bacteria; the water in those fountains are treated with some sort of iodine solution, so it actually can't be drunk. And of course, a healthy company is usually a profitable one.

I took a look at Wikipedia, and apparently the article there says gargling is a good procedure to follow, although I have read dissenting opinions. In the past couple of days, I believe I've come down with a bug of some sort, so of course, Mom has exhorted me to hit the warm salt water and rinse the ol' larynx out.