Gone Japan'n

Hey, I'm in Tokyo Japan, and I have a special blog, just for my trip. Please check it out by clicking this link:
Sukiyaki Poutine

Howard Stern and Beth touched my calendar

I'm a big fan of Howard Stern. I have been listening since he began on Sirius over 5 years ago. His new hobby is photography, and he took some pictures of his beautiful wife Beth and a few loveable pets for a charity calendar supporting the North Shore Animal League. Howard announced it was on sale via twitter and that the first 1000 would be autographed so I ordered it right away.When listening to the show on Friday Howard told his co-host Robin that she should have gotten her calendar by now since she had ordered hers on the first day. I knew if mine didn't show today I had a problem.

Well it showed up today and lucky me... IT'S AUTOGRAPHED! The dogs are so cute and it has little stories about the animals, and the best part is Howard actually touched it. I will probably never have a chance to meet Howard Stern unless my penis falls off or he writes another book (He is notoriously magnanimous in regards to book promotion).

Winter Vixen

This is a poem I wrote back in 1999 when I was in high school. I was with Colin at the Tim Hortons in South Porcupine. So much snow around us. It's written on the back of a tray liner cause I didn't have a notebook with me.

I have some old notebooks I could scan but probably won't. One can only take so much teenage rage/pain/horniness.

Matt gets fireworks in the face

I downloaded imovie from the apple app store for $15. It's a pretty simple video editing program and it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. I have been putting videos up on Youtube since 2007. I am lucky enough to be around for some cool stuff, unfortunately I havent always had an hd camera and I'm not happy with the look of all of my content. It's high time I figured how to edit simple video, add some titles and general production quality to my videos. I think I should take a Final Cut course next year.

I'm going to take a lot of amazing video in Japan and I want to be able to to something with it.

This is a video I took of my friends lighting Canada Day fireworks in Christy Pitts. Matt had a close call trying to light one of the pyrotechnics. I added titles, an instant replay,and cut out the borring parts, then added music from Matt's band The Stormalongs.

Out of Ketchup

I woke up early to make breakfast for my brother.  I made bacon, eggs and hashbrown potatoes. We are out of ketchup. We were out last week. Paul knows this. He went to the store to pick up dish soap and ketchup but returned only with two 2 Litre bottles of coke.
"Where's the ketchup?" he asks. I indicate the tiny amount left in the bottle to which he scoffs.
He throws a five dollar bill in front of me and orders some ketchup, like a boss. I don't have a job so I know when I'm being spoken to like an employee. I can't remember the last time I felt so disrespected.

I don't mind paying for things, I paid for the bacon eggs and potatoes. I don't mind going out and getting things, I just don't want to be treated like a servant.

*Edit (Paul apologized and I feel better)

New Jays logo looks great!

The New Blue Jays logo 

The Blue Jays have finally gotten rid of the blue-less black "Jays" uniform and embraced their roots unveiling a sleek new uniform. The new look and logo is a modern retooling of the classic blue bird fans grew up with. This is the point. If you were ten years old in '92 that means you are 29 now and your buying power is enough to move a baseball franchise to drop it's much hated "T" logo. I have to point out that the jerseys are $90 more than what they cost last year (now $219).

The fancy event to announce the new logo was invite only and fans & bloggers were left out, John Lott wrote a good piece at the National Post (Toronto Blue Jays regret leaving fans out of logo unveiling).

At least they did one service to fans. The Blue Jays website announced that Ricky Romero, Adam Lind, Brandon Morrow and J.P. Arencibia would be at Jays Shop at SEARS at Yonge and Dundas from 5-6 signing autographs.

Never one to miss a chance to meet a Blue Jay I rushed over to the Eaton Centre to see the new units up close and get my baseball signed. I have a ball signed by Al Leiter and Rob Butler from when I was a little kid. I always wanted to add to it and have it covered with Blue Jay autographs.

The shop is the same except for the signage and merchandise all feature the new logo.They gave out wristbands at 2pm, I got mine then hurried home to make a sandwich. I got back to the mall at about 4:30 and the Blue Jays promptly showed up at 5.

Artie is back, but not on Stern

my tasty homestyle breakfast

Trying to get my shit together. I woke up when my alarm went off. Made a nice hearty breakfast and listened to the Nick and Artie Show. It's a podcast of a sports radio show by two comedians Nick Dipaolo and Artie Lange. Artie was on the Howard Stern Show for years up until his suicide attempt last year. Its great to hear him again, he's so funny. I'm glad he's off the horse.

I've got to head out to meet up with my Granny for some dinner and conversation. She takes an art class at OCAD weekly and I try and meet up with her beforehand.

Stormalongs Occupy Jamspace

I haven't been to a stormalongs jam session in months, but I find myself at one now. I missed watching the boys rock out.

A joke is made about drummer Nick never having learned how to count bars. One should never jest about such a great drummer.

Right now they are going through "waiting for the d train"(Plastic Ono Band) for a third time. Matt has vocal duties, a welcome trend for tracks that require more of a strange sound. Matt is working hard to develop his long neglected rock pipes.

They close out the jam with Iron Trees (check it out in itunes).

Great to be back in the dank rock sweat dungeon.

double cheese deluxy excited

Please Click Here to check out my Movember page! I'm growing hair on my upper lip to raise funds and awareness of prostate cancer.

Denison Ave, My old street

Yesterday I was productive and set up some postcard blog posts. They will go up every morning for the next week. I really like this Street Cents postcard I got way back in 1994. It felt good to have some posts up. I have to stick with it, I have been getting more and more hits on the postcard blog. It's important to post regularly, and I've been terrible at that.

I should mention I'm going to Japan next month. My good friend Koji is getting married! If you haven't met Koji then your life is missing a small chunk. We met while working for the Evil Hollister Corporation. Koji was in Canada on a working holiday, and while here we became good buddies. He came to visit my hometown of Timmins Ontario with me, a memorable road trip. He said he would like to show me his hometown one day, which just happens to be Tokyo.
I went ahead and booked my flight last night. I figure it's not getting any cheaper the closer we get to Christmas. I got a good deal on Air Canada. I will be there for Christmas and New Years.


I told Koji that I had booked the flight, to which he replied: "I'm double cheese deluxy excited!!!!!!!"

I need to go to the gym tomorrow, no excuses. I'm not fat but I'm getting a little belly.

I also have to learn some more Japanese. I took an introductory course a few years ago but I'm rusty. I don't want to look like a tool. I remember how to say "No I am NOT an American, I am a Canadian" but beyond that I'm going to have to study up.

Movember Returns

I've set up my Movember fundraising page. That's right, once again I'm growing a mustache for mens health (prostate cancer). It's only the third day and I already have a 'stache that would make a tenth-grader jealous.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

Moms

Woke up in Moms basement. I usually find myself waking up here on the holdays, the lack of a Christmas tree tells me that is not the case. I'm just here to hang out.

Mom made me some scrambled eggs and an english muffin. My eggs never taste this good.

Watching Judge shows on TV together, we pass out own judgments.

We crack cases on police procedural dramas.

Strombo's Secret Movie (Young Adult)

Young Adult Lil Tuffy Poster

I went to Strombo's "secret" movie at the Tiff Bell Lightbox. I had guessed it was Young Adult, I was right (Strombo tweeted me with a denial, then a wink).

The lineup was huge.

The guy in front of me was dressed like Dr. Who, different guy but I have seen it before. It's not Hallowe'en dude. I feel I have to point out that a grown man is playing dress up going to see a movie called Young Adult. I don't get it, I like Super Mario, but if I wore white gloves, a red shirt, overalls and a tool belt you would think I was fucking insane.

Cosplay Dr Who Manchild

We ended up in the second screening, which started about a half hour after cinema 2 filled up. Some people got turned away, but they should have showed up earlier.

The movie was great. I wrote a review here.

Jason Reitman and Diablo introduced the movie and came out for a Q&A after the screening.

On the way out of the theatre the Tiff staff handed out limited edition poster prints from Lil Tuffy, an artist out of San Francisco.

I waited around afterwards . I talked to George Strombolopolous. He really made this an event for the people. He rocks.

I missed Jason Reitman, but I saw Diablo Cody and she autographed my copy of Juno and my Lil Tuffy poster. I will post a picture once I get it back from the frame shop.

Occupy Space

A friend asked if I was going to the Occupy Toronto protest. I can't do it. As a jobless recipient of the social welfare that the 1% so detest I would make the perfect poster boy for the aimless movement. What would I be protesting? Being a well-fed white male in the most prosperous country in the western world? Banks suck but I'm not closing my account.

When I hang out with filthy tent dwelling hippies it will be at Burning Man.

I would rather occupy my apartment and use my newly purchased consumer goods. My mom bought me a Keurig coffe machine. I've had 3 cups today, time to chill.

I'm going to Strombo's secret movie tonight. I tweeted that I thought it might be the new Diablo Cody scripted Young Adult and Strombo tweeted back "nope". The Rum Diary is out next week, so it could be that. I'm gonna stop guessing. It was almost a year ago I was running around trying to find the Tron Legacy screening.

Cut Corners Not Good For Blind Toronto

The TTC is introducing a new clipped corner metropass, which can only be a step towards eliminating the free metropass for the blind. The move by the TTC to clip the corners of metropasses is being made to "assist blind and visually impaired transit users when entering the TTC through automatic entrances and turnstiles."

The CNIB Metropass ALREADY has a clipped corner

The clipped edge indicates the direction the pass needs to be swiped at a turnstile for easy entry and would be helpful for blind Torontonians, if they didn't already have the feature on their metropasses. The anual metropass distributed by the CNIB already has a clipped corner, and has for years.

So what is the purpose of heralding a feature for blind people on a card blind people dont use?

Mayor Rob Ford has been itching to cut the visually-impaired gravy from the city budget since he first saw a glaucoma stricken old lady pass the fare box without paying. Here is a previous post where Rob ford makes his intentions to cut CNIB metropasses clear. The move would be unpopular, but so are most actions of the lumbering mayoral lummox.

Make it a habit

This is me sitting in the Second Cup for the second day in a row. Plugging away at my postcard blog and this one and trying to be productive. My coffee is cold and almost empty. I'm going to end up here again this afternoon, I just know it. I'm going for groceries in Kensington and then it's back to the typing grind.

Construction on Queen St W

Not blogging, a common theme

I have been stuck in some type of redirect loop unable to log into blogger from my place, which only means I have been able to flex my penchant for not blogging. (It's my computer that is stuck in the redirect loop, although I guess that is a good name for my personal state right now also)
Fitting I should find myself at the Second Cup where I was blogging from last year, this same time. back then it was because the internet at my place wasn't working. My new place has no internet problems, and it's right across the street from me now (i can see my bedroom window from here). Still it's better to get out of the house, away from the distractions(I can't get away with smoking bowls and listening to Howard Stern here). I should be over here every day, at least till I get a little focus.
Without the film festival to keep me busy I'm a little lost. It's what I'm good at and now I have nothing to do. I was so busy during the film festival I never had a chance to blog.

A look out the window from Second Cup, Tortilla Flats in BG

I started my postcard blog about a year ago, I have sent and received a lot of postcards since. I'm going to slow down on the postcrossing(sending random cards) and focus on friends and people I have already corresponded with. I want to have a post a day, and I should have enough cards to take me into December. That's what I came here to write but ended up doing this stream of consciousness type thing.
now Im feeling a might peckish and think I will run across the street for some leftover Thanksgiving turkey sitting in my fridge. If I'm trying to stay productive I can't eat sleepy-time turkey in the middle of the day.

I will be back.

Redirecting

I'm having trouble logging into blogger on my laptop.

My phone is the only way for me to blog.

I downloaded this awesome camera app called little photo.

I'm gonna do some experimenting and see what kind of cool pictures I can come up with.

TeeFury Grab Bag Rocks

My shirts showed up today. I ordered the Grab Bag from TeeFury.com on September 5th. I have a lot of TeeFury shirts, and I trust the randomness that is Grab bag Day. Here are the five shirts I got for 6$ each: 

Linus

A Lost/Peanuts parody shirt from dakin costello

Slothbert Love Chunkie

A Sesame Street/Goonies mash-up from Michael Myers Jr.

Mutant & Proud

An X-Men fanboy shirt from Seven Hundred

Madman

A MadMen/Joker tee from Heart Jack

Masters of Death

A Harry Potter shirt from Mathijs Vissers

I probably won't wear this very often but if I had to wear a Harry Potter shirt this would be the one.

I'm happy with the shirts I got. I was worried I would get some Dr. Who or Firefly parody shirts and never be able to wear them (Don't hate me, I'm just not a fan).

Baseball

Im drunk at the jays game, sitting with Kevin Flynn.

Jose Molina gave us a walk off win in the 9th.

Im going to grab a pulled pork poutine on my way to Ryerson for my last tiff11 midnight madness movie called Smuggler(from Japan).

A few minutes later at tiff bell lightbox

Im eating a quiznos sub i picked up on the way here Baseball and movies just steps from each other. The small sanwich was more costly than I expected. Im about to see a movie called Twiggy. (review to follow).

Breathing baseball

I thought about catching a bit of the game between movies and im glad i did.

So far the score is nil, but its so refreshing, a beer in my hand.
Jays are up. And down.
They just ran a moneyball trailer, its at tiff but i will wait to see it when it goes wide in two weeks.
When the jays strike out 7 batters we can get a slice of shitty pizza. Two more strikeouts.
Jays back up to bat. Lets get some action on the score board.
Mike macoy leads off the bottom of the third...
Hits, out at first. Lets go blue jays. I am live blogging from my phone
by the way. Scoreless going into the fourth inning. Camera man just sumed it up, both teams going nowhere.
Im going to have to head up to the lightbox soon. I have a movie in 45 minutes. leaving now 0-0 in the 5th. so glad I came out.
(Baltimore won 2-0)

Rushiing at tiff

This is my first rush line of 2011 and my first press & industry screening ever. As a volunteer I am able to use my vouchers to get into p&i screening if any empty seats are left. Im hoping to see drive, but i may have to settle for something else if its full.
Last night I saw two films (after working an 8 hour captains shift at the lightbox). From Up On Poppy Hill & xThe Raid. (reviews soon).

bad blogger...post more

I haven't blogged for most of Summer. Now that the summer is officially over, I should not let the trend continue. I was very busy, and I missed a lot of opportunities for great posts.

The Toronto International Film Festival begins today, I will be a Volunteer Captain at the tiff bell lightbox. Afterwards I have two movies to see, FROM UP ON POPPY HILL, and the first midnight madness film THE RAID. I will post reviews of EVERY film I see.

The Unkablocking of Sunny J

I took my opportunity at the Underground Cinema's screening of Kevin Smith's Red State to beg the director for his forgiveness and to be unblocked from his twitter feed. As I posted, I was ka-blocked for being an asshole, and I deserved it, but to not be "in Kevin Smith's World" was a punishment that cut deep into my soul and was too much to endure.

Kevin recognized me from a previous encounter (but not this one) and was surprised he had blocked me.   He said all was forgiven and he walked out and gave me a hug. It was overwhelming. It's hard to describe.

I woke this morning to find myself still blocked, but Meggles233 came through and then I started to get a lot of "follows" all of a sudden.  

I am now unkablocked by the man himself.

I was Kablocked by @thatkevinsmith

I made the mistake of bitching about the opening song for Kevin Smith's morning podcast Plus One Per Diem. I was Kablocked! Kevin wields a brutal ban-hammer, and I am now being punished on twitter. I was really excited for Joe Rogan to be on the podcast and I just tweeted without thinking. I really dislike the opening song to the podcast, it's mixed way out.

I am a stupid ANONYMOUS internet asshole

I thought about the possibility of being blocked right after I hit "Enter". It was already too late. Blocked. 

The worst part is Kevin singled me out and said I wasn't in his world anymore. My heart is broken.

Super 8 IN THEATRES FRIDAY JUNE 10

I saw an advance screening of Super 8 last night at the AMC.
Go see it this weekend!

JJ Abrams (Cloverfield, Star Trek) has a flair for monsters, and a real flair for lens flares. His collaboration with Steven Spielberg is a match made in film-geek heaven.
Comparisons have been made between Cloverfield and Super 8, and they do share common elements but Super 8 is a much better film. I didn't like Cloverfield, it made me nauseous (although it was on my birthday and I had drank a fifth of Wild Turkey, so I can't blame the shaky camera).
Cloverfield was a bunch of unlikable urban adults running from a monster armed only with a digital camera, while Super 8 has lovable small town youth running from a monster with a Super8 camera. The movie is set in the late 70's and it really works well. everything has a certain innocence. It's funny and cute and scary, and has a certain quality that will make it re-watchable for years to come. Try and see it on the big screen.


  

...And I feel fine

I'm working on my New York blog and should have it up soon.

I was too pooched out yesterday to attempt the game. I just listened on the radio and fell asleep.

Giant Canadian Beaver

Paul and I watched the Jays beat the Astros today. The dome was open and I got a little sun. Jose Bautista hit his 17th and 18th home run of the season.

Afterwards I went to the AMC. The Rapture was supposedly on its way and I wanted to be watching movies when it went down.

Bridesmaids was really funny, the theatre was 95% women. They reacted loudly when Kristen Wiig's character made a bad relationship decision. It was a good audience to take the movie in with.. It's not "The Hangover with ladies" as it had been pitched in ads. Wiig carries the picture well. Her friendship with Mya Rudolph is totally believable (being SNL alum they probably are).

I have too many movies to see this summer and can't start falling behind now so I figured I'd try and see another movie. I'm all about the Double Bill.

Arthur was fun. I'm a fan of the original, and I think Russel Brand does a good job as the infinitely rich drunkard. Gretta Gerwig is in the Liza Minnelli role, and much more believable as an attractive woman.
If you see one movie before the end of the world, see Bridesmaids, but if you see two, go see Arthur.

thoughts in New York City

Just some thoughts.

The bus was two and a half hours late getting into New York. A closed bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel sent us on a scenic detour though New Jersey. By the time we approached the tunnel again it was 9:30 and our bus driver informed us we were about to learn what it's like to enter Manhattan durring rush hour.

Walking around a bunch. 

Manhattan is wealth, pure concentrated wealth. You can't have wealth without a ton of people to hold doors open for you and wait for you in cars.

Black Escalades with tinted windows wait on every curb. 

I like the pod hotel/ It was tiny. I turned the television to Comedy Central and watched some House Party 2, 

Soaked, just soaked to the bone. My sneakers squished with every step.

Drying my shoes with the hair dryer,  

I ordered a small pepperoni pie and they said it would take about ten minutes. I went to pick up a six pack. 

They forgot to make my pizza. He offered me a Pepsi but I told him I'd have a beer. I was soaking wet and imagining being back at my hotel with the pie and my 6 pack.

I ran out to pick up a rush ticket for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. You can get cheap tickets to Broadway musicals if you don't care where you sit and can line up early in the am. 

Bagel and a Shmear for breakfast. 

Museum of Television and Radio Pealy Centre was fucking amazing. I watched a ton of Andy Kaufman footage I have never seen before.

Met up with Steve Stecklow, a friend from Burning Man.

David Copperfields had some amazing beer selection. Smokey beers and chocolaty beers and IPA's. I was really overcome with how awesome a time I was having and then my friend Will showed up with his girlfriend. I met Will at Mike's bachelor party (G-String-20) and subsequent wedding. Will was the funniest guy at the bachelor party and none of Mikes friends had ever met him before.

Do Not Touch, Untitled (Bear/Lamp)

This art installation was protected by two security guards (you can see their umbrellas in the photo). I asked what it was called and was told "Do-not-touch" in rehearsed english. It turns out it's Untitled (Bear/Lamp) by artist Urs Ficher.

The McGraw Hill Building, home of Sirius Radio and The Howard Stern Show

The Artie Lange Cupcake from Crumbs (500 Calories) 

Personal pie, Abertinos

New York can't seem to fuck up pizza. It's good from the 1$ slice to the slightly more expensive slice. 

Colbert Report (The reason for my trip) was awesome. It was really cool to see it live. He told us he was screwing up more than usual because he had vertigo.

"Who has two thumbs and is going to see the Colbert Report? This Guy!"

This was in front of a different hotel
 from the ons I was staying at. 

Lego Lady Liberty

FAO Shwartz is just a lame toys'R'us now. It was the toy store in the movie BIG. The last time I was there the Piano was being moved but they had it this time. They take a picture of you in front of a green screen and then you get to play on the actual piano,so stupid.

Lego Indiana Jones

Shadyvil Cups at Steve's place

Jeff Conaway hospitalized, where were you when you heard the news