My internet service provider, Teksavvy has let me down for the first time. I pay the big bucks for high speed but it went down on Sunday and it could take a Rogers guy 3 days to get out and fix it. So I'm back at the Ol' Second Cup across the street from my place. It's frustrating cause I have a lot of blogging to do and it's cheaper to do at home(I don't have to buy coffee).
I went to the medical clinic down the street since the dysentery I developed a few days ago has so far refused to abate.
I'm excited for this week, even more than last week. Sure a 30th birthday and a trip to New York is a big deal, but this week I'm going to London Ontario to see TOOL (along with Jagger and Ashlie) and then Montreal for my annual Igloofest trip(w/Matt Ian and Brooke).
Before that I have a few volunteer shifts at tiff Bell Lightbox, which is one of the highlights of my life. I love the festival and the people I meet there. I'm stockpiling movie vouchers so I can see all the Studio Ghibli movies when tiff has a retrospective in March.
Nature calls, hope this imodium kicks in soon (says the guy drinking coffee).
Pomegranates are in season (and on sale at Metro 4 for 3$)! I picked some up after the gym today. That's right! I went to the gym today for the first time in 2 weeks (I was in Montreal for a little bit). Pomegranates were my Uncle Paul's favourite. He taught me that the difficulty of getting to the sweet fruit was worth the effort. Hard work has its reward. I spent some time emptying out the four poms, now I have a whole big bowlful and can grab a handful whenever I want.
Here is a vidoe explaining how to open the Pomegranate,
I did pretty much the same thing, except didn't take it appart under water. My sticky shoes and red stained floors are proof.
I got a postcard from Charlie and Rebecka from their trip to Japan, two of the coolest people in the world. I met them at Burning Man and my life is better because of it. Charlie is an awesome Australian and Rebecka is a doctor in San Francisco. I want to cash in my Aeroplan points and visit them in California tomorrow, but my jetsetting days are over (for now). This postcard made my day/week: Jagger called and we talked about the corporate entity known as Weezer, and their latest product, a 4 cent piece of plastic disc called Raditude. He seemed just as disappointed as I was. We caught up a bit, having not spoken since his nuptials in Forest Ontario last month. Colin and I had a great time, although I haven't finished or posted a blog entry about it yet(1 month ago? I suck at this!). The newlyweds are going to se Auf Der Maur open for STP a the John Labbat Centre in London next week, I'm super jealous and want to hear all about it. Jagger's beautiful wife Ashlie is a regular reader of my blog and I thank her for her patronage. lurkers should take a cue from her and post comments once in a while!
My buddy Hollywood rules! We got blazed in the parking lot, then found the end of the huge line into the Amp.
I ran into Jagger and his fiance Ashlie, we discussed legal briefs and TOOL setlists. Jagger decided not to look at the internet to see what songs the band will play. In the past he would predict the set and be pretty accurate (but I think his mind was once blown at ACC with a Salival version of Pushit)
TOOL was good but I've seen them a few times, and it's tough when you compare it to other shows. The set was close to the last time I saw them on the 10,000 Days Tour, not surprising since they don't have a new album to support. Maynard was the most talkitive I've ever seen him, "Holy shit that's a lot of Canadians!" and he kept saying something about French Fries. He introduced a guest guitarist for 46&2 as Stephen Hawking, and later Christopher Robin joined Danny on drums for Lateralus. We had a good enough view of the stage from section 304 (considering I'm fucking blind, I could at least see people on it). They definatly blew my mind out the back of my skull with trippy visuals on the screens and crazy lazers. The best part of the visual aspect was when the lazers did a whole ASTEROIDS game thing and shot the place up. I hope they go back into studio soon to make a new record. Laturalus came out the same day as Weezer's Green, and causes simillar summer 2001 flashbacks. I love TOOL but I crave something new. Unfortunatley they only seem to put out 1 album every 5-6 years.
Facebook makes me laugh like crazy sometimes. My good friend Jagger has enjoyed this beverage as long as I have known him. When cleaning up after a crazy night of Bowlaroos, the empty Beatrice Chocolate Milk carton meant Jagz had been by (Although I do believe he has a preference for Farquhars).
I have been playing GTA 4 on Ps3, my friend Jagger was right, it is a crazy game, the city is so huge. I played today after Kosmo and I did our walk. I drank some beers and smoked a J. My driving did not improve.
I went over to Matt's place hit the bong, coughed up a lung, allergies. And I still don't stop smoking pot. We went over to Bill's new place for dinner. His new Roommate was at Burning Man with us, he is cool as hell. Of course it would not be a trip to Bill's without some serious bar tending. We had drinks, and a delicious salmon.
I just wrote about wanting to go see The Big Lebowski later this month, and we ended up watching it at Bill's place tonight. I hope this doesen't fuck up my chances of seeing it again on the big screen. Matt will probably not want to go now that he has just seen it again. I don't care, I have seen it hundreds of times and hope to see it hundreds more. What a great fucking movie, man.
The Stormalongs, out of concern for the structural integrity of the city of Toronto, brought their gear to the Island to record some tracks. I woke up early to help move the gear from the docks to the ferry and then to Dale Morningstar's Gas Station Recording Camp on Toronto Island. The Studio is really cool. Dale is a great guy and the set up was a piece of cake. We had a beer and blazed (my first time since Sunday, a new record!). had a Stormalong sandwich break and then the guys started the session.
It was really moving to be able to see my friends, who have rocked me for so many years, in the studio recording. It's going to tape, and will sound awesome. I really can't wait to hear it. I hope they put it on Itunes so people can spend some money on their music (it's going to be worth it!).
I had to take the ferry back to the city to meet up with Jagger. Jags came to town looking for a wii fit, which I thought would be an easy task. We walked to Future Shop, and then up Yonge St, to no avail. I can't believe it came out in June and places are still sold out. Eventually I used my head and called Toys R us and success! We went to Duffrin Mall and picked it up. Yog's lady is going to be happy he's not comming home empty handed. Great to see Jagger again.
This was a fantastic way to spend my last day in Toronto, with some of my best friends. Tomorrow I'm going to Mom's place for G-mo's birhtday party.
People often mispronounce my friend Jagger's name. It's Jag as in Mick Jagger, not Yog as in Jaromir Jager.
Yogurt came to Toronto to buy a Nintendo wii, which are still in short supply in London, Ontario. We went to the Future Shop at the new Toronto Life building. We checked out Best Buy, which is the same company, but they had sold out that morning. I bought my Nintendo wii at the same best buy on November 19th 2006 and they still cant keep them on the shelves! So he picked up the wii along with Mario Galaxy(best-game-ever!), wii play, and Sega's Master Baiter Bass Fishing. He has a new TV and he had his girlfriend are both excited to play their new system. He kept looking at the box, even tho I have one. We played my nintendo till late. In the morning we met Matt and his girlfriend Anna and Nim at Sneaky Dee's. Yogsy and I both had the eggs benny, fantastic. I told Nim I had been going to the gym and he waited for the punchline. Yogi drove back to his lady with the wii, triumphant.
On September 1th, 2001, some assholes almost ruined my chances of seeing Tool for a second time. Thankfully, a week later everything was back to normal and touring resumed. There was this really loud fat faced homeless kid on Queen Street and he said he could hook me up with some ham, to smoke at the show. We walked up University to St. Patrick to supposedly meet his guy. On the way we passed the US consulate. There were people leaving flowers and saying prayers, and this CRAZY FUCKING HOBO starts YELLING at everyone, "They Deserved it!". It was so uncomfortable and I wanted to not be with him but I was bound to him by a need to get scooby snacks. This crazy bastard didn't even hook me up. His guy wouldn't show, and I had to go meet Jagz at Union. Jagger lent Colin some bucks and he scored a ticket from a filthy fucking scalper. When we got into the Air Canada Centre I bought a 12$ beer, that I had to drink in the hall, so I missed most of Meshugga. Colin had a closer view of the stage, Jagger and I rocked out to some wicked jams. The set went something like this:
grudge ions (the zappy part) stinkfist (extended bridge) 46 & 2 pushit (salival) schism disposition reflection -intermission- parabol parabola eon blue apocalypse the patient aenima lateralus
They had the weird contortionists from the Laturalus video come out and bob their heads. And Jagger was SHOCKED when they played the salival version of pushit(One of the best Tool songs). I was really happy to hear Aenima, cause its my favorite Tool song, and they din't play it at Edgefest.
Somebody had some bowlaroos, cause Colin came over to where we were sitting and we all partook, under the watchful eye of Air Canada Centre Security.
