Rube Goldberg machines

Back in the early 90s, I attended Science Outreach's summer camp and loved every moment of it. Part of our adventures included making a Rube Goldberg machine that would get toothpaste out of its tube. My group's machine failed.
Goldberg machines are wicked cool. As such, this is a great TED talk. I'm not sure why I'd never seen the music video before. Probably because I live under a rock.
Which can't be entirely true, because I have seen this equally amazing video.

Top Chef Masters 2

Su-sur! Su-sur! Su-sur!
I'm really enjoying watching this show.
I also feel like the most recent episode had a kind of rigged result, but since it's for charity, I'm okay with that.

P.S. Newest Toronto concept in June 2010...wa-hoo!

Settled on a book

After searching high and low, in various cities, and basically giving up hope that I would find that elusive perfect notebook, I have made a purchase.
I did end up settling for an A4 sized book, because those Europeans just know how to make paper products that much nicer. I had been eyeing the Semikolon notebooks for awhile, in fact, my last hunt for a beautiful book also ended with a Semikolon. Their stuff is smashing.
I'm going to have to trim the sides of the pages that I want to paste into my book, but I guess it will be worth it. It really is the notebook of my dreams, except for that A4 glitch. I tried so hard to find an 8.5x11 beauty, but it's pretty much impossible.
I think I'm going to transfer all of my thoughts and dreams that I've been accumulating on random scrap paper here and there into the book this weekend. Woohoo!

It's like a freaky sci-fi movie

While waiting for an appointment today, I scanned a newspaper and saw a picture that kind of scared the be-jebus out of me. I can't seem to find the exact picture from today's paper, but here's an online story from a couple days ago from the same newspaper. I have never heard of, nor seen a picture of a sinkhole before. That's not entirely true. Maybe I've seen pictures of sinkholes before, without realizing what they were. This one in Guatemala, well, I've definitely never seen anything like this before. I feel like seeing a picture like this might give some kids nightmares. It's a gigantic hole in the ground for goodness sakes. It's pretty creepy looking.

Fastest survey ever!

I just got off the phone with the fastest Ipsos Reid survey ever. I used to never engage in telemarketer/telesurveyer sorts of things in the past, but I'm more compassionate towards this industry and more often than not, follow through with their request to complete their surveys.
Tonight's was the fastest survey ever. After answering two questions for demographics, I was asked five yes/no questions and that was it!

Flairing in my hood

There are two girls who seem to practice flairing in the courtyard in front of the building where I live. In the bars that I've been to, I haven't seen anyone flair, but it's definitely something that I would be pretty impressed with. I wonder if they are practicing for a particular reason. Either way, it's pretty cool.

Oh, I get it now

Last week, I pondered the missing garbage bins in my neighbourhood. There are clear and blue garbage/recycling bags tied to the hydro poles instead. Very classy.
A couple months ago, the City of Toronto had changed their garbage bins (for the record, I like the old ones better, but that's only because I think the push pedal on the new ones will break sooner than expected) and I witnessed changes in the garbage bin landscape in the area. It was fun to watch them remove and replace the bins, and put up caution tape for the gap in the metal barrier on the streetcar stands.
That miscalculation or change in bin dimension still baffles me.
Anyway, so I thought that the recent missing bins was a sign that my pessimistic outlook on the lifespan of the bins was coming true. Not so. It's that darn G20 thingy that keep popping up in the news. Apparently garbage bins are a safety risk.

It's June

It seems I've lost track of what the date is. I deliberately changed my calendar this morning to May 31st and took a moment to reflect whether or not I needed to change my metropass.
It is only now, at 2.05pm, after seeing the date on the PC computer screen at school and checking a couple other sources (just to make sure) that I realize that I've been wrong.
So, either the streetcar driver is also in a time warp or he was just being nice on this first day of June.
Also, the June metropass is the slickest one yet. It's mostly black.

Definitely sweeps

Glee is pulling out all of the stops for sweeps. Special guest stars, pseudo flash mobs, pseudo spinal cord miracles and finally the superstar I've been waiting for - since her first appearance on the show - sings! I got the chills.

Who you gonna call?

I've never watched Ghost Busters, but I sure hope it's something like this.

Craving satisfied...for now

I've been craving moules frites for quite some time now. I've been visiting the seafood section of the St. Lawrence market on a regular basis, looked up a couple recipes and read up about prepping the bivalves.
Well, I think I'm good for a couple more weeks to come. I was at the beer bistro and the menu had a couple options for moules. The moules came with bread which proves to be effective for soaking up broth, but I'm kind of partial to frites as filler. I guess in Europe, they give you bread at the beginning of the meal, so you also have the option of either dunking material.
They were served in a Staub mouliere. I've never seen such a contraption and I loved it.
The moules weren't bad. Quite meaty. The broth was okay, but the moules tasted like moules and the broth tasted like broth. There was no overlap. It's strange, I usually don't like alcoholic tasting things, but I tend to overlook it for moules broth. The first taste is always a little bit shocking, but I suppose I love moules so much that I keep eating. If the flavour is really bold, I don't have much of the broth, but I think I'm a lot more lenient when it comes to moules broth.
Anyway. Moules are yummy.

Food, glorious food!

For the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to cook some different things. Expand my cooking repertoire, if you will.
Let's see, BBQ ribs, BBQ chicken, burritos, salsa, guacamole, coconut curry soup, various salads, meatloaf, steak...
It's been going pretty well so far.
I'm not a recipe follower (except if I bake). I do a couple internet searches for recipes to get an idea of common ingredients and then I ad lib it. I haven't really cooked anything that needed to be exact.
It takes me a lot longer to cook than I usually plan for, and I tend to overestimate people's eating abilities and make way too much food. Better more than less. I would hate for people to go home hungry.
I'm not too sure what I want to cook next week.
I do know that at some point, I want to prep a night for moules frites, and have a lobster fest.
It's been fun to cook.

Raclette

Well, if I really want raclette, I can pick up a grill from the St. Lawrence market for $329. The real kind, not the electric version with trays.
I'll keep it in mind.

Amazona

I continue to yearn for Loewe's Amazona bag. It's such a classic shaped bag and I've only seen one person carrying it in public. I love having items that no one else has. At some point, I may end up getting a LV Speedy, but I guarantee you that it's because it's a nice bag. And I'm pretty sure I won't be getting one of those brown monogrammed versions.
Anyway, Loewe's been hyping up their marketing and I've been noticing. Which sucks, because I'm sure other people are noticing too. I've read articles, seen the ads, and I stalked their website/e-store. I desperately want to get this bag before it hits the big time.

The Kids Grow Up

The Kids Grow Up. It's a documentary filmed by a father telling a story of his daughter, Lucy, and how he's coming to terms with the fact that she's grown up and soon to be leaving home to go to college. It's totally up my alley.
I watched the trailer on the official website after the fact. The trailer is really well done. It's a good overview of the main issues in the film.
I liked this film. I think I also started to get a little bored towards the 2/3 mark of the film. I blame a headache that was developing from watching two docs in a row.
I don't know if I'll ever become a parent, but parent-child relationships are challenging to navigate (as, I guess, any relationship is). I mean, it was challenging as a child. I can't imagine going through another set of challenges being on the other end.
There was a Q&A with the director/cameraman/father, Doug Block. Nothing too profound. He would have liked his wife to come along with him to do press and talk at the Q&As, but she was on another continent with other commitments. Lucy is a Junior in College and is studying in Buenos Aires for the year and definitely couldn't make it. I wondering if she would have enjoyed joining her father to tour the film. Apparently she's seen a couple rough cuts of the film that had more content than the final version, but he was vague about whether she's seen the final version. It's interesting to watch the relationship between Lucy and the camera change over the years. It's sometimes difficult to tell where the line between the camera and her father lies. He mentioned that he would like Lucy to sit in a screening with an audience.
As he's now in the stage of his life where the kids have flown the coop and he's able to redefine his relationship with his wife, he mentioned that he's working on the third part of a seeming trilogy (51 Birch Street being the first and this film being the second) where he will be examining husband and wife relationships. He used to do wedding videos, so he wants to get in touch with couples that he made videos for and find out about their lives together as well as, I'm sure, examining his own marriage.

This film screened with Time’s Up, a pretty unmemorable short about a couple's lead up to their baby being born and their exploration into the best use of their time and how to be most efficient. I think it's one of those artsy films that I can sort of appreciate for what it is, and laugh at the light hearted humour of it, but didn't really leave a lasting impression. I did appreciate listening to German for 15 minutes. I could pick up a couple words here and there, so that made me happy.

- picture courtesy of hotdocs.ca

Boo...

I was going to see my last Hot Doc this morning. Fail. So, unless I bail on some of my other commitments or spend some hard earned cash, I'll stand at a grand total of three measly docs for this year. Double boo.
It's too bad because I really really wanted to see today's doc: Kings of Pastry (official website here). I mean, who wouldn't want to watch a doc about chefs competing in a dessert competition?
None of the other shows that I saw were rush when I arrived to the box office the day of to snag a ticket...of course this one was. The box office at the venue doesn't open until an hour before the first screening of the day, and as this was the first show, I didn't have the advantage of extra time before the screening to wait for rush tickets. As I arrived in time for the box office to open, I saw the rush line already snaked around the block. This was a rush line of TIFF proportions. Heck, this rush line was of TIFF ticket holder line proportions. I joined the end of the line knowing my chances were slim, but I figured that I was there, I could bask in the sun and get some reading done at the same time.
I'd say, between 20-40 rushers ended up getting into the screening. I was probably at 75-100. In total, there were between 150-175 rushers hoping to snag a seat.
The consolation for not getting into the showing was a voucher for a free ticket for any daytime screening. Great gesture, and I'm wondering why they did it. I mean it's our fault that we didn't buy tickets in advance. That's the whole point of a rush line. You know you're taking a chance and may not be getting into the screening. Seeing as how it won't come in handy, if someone wants to have the voucher, let me know ASAP.
Should I be happy that I now have two extra hours in my day? Nope. I wanted to watch that doc! And I also want to eat pastries. Super whammy.

Revelation

I'm Emily Strange.
I don't scowl as much and I don't have a black cat.
The rest of the look is on par.

Space Tourists

The second documentary that I watched was Space Tourists (official website here). The documentary is about space travel based in Russia and some of the different groups that are effected or involved in the scene. As I watched the documentary, I wondered what the point of the film was. I couldn't figure out what the take home message. After sitting through the end credits, I'm left thinking that there isn't a main message. It's more of a documentary weaves together different vignettes so that you have a better understanding of the subject matter and different points of view that can be had. The themes were: an abandoned space centre in Kazakhstan, Anousheh Ansari’s journey to the International Space Station as a space tourist, local citizens scavenging and selling charred parts of discarded rocket that dropped from the sky or even using the parts in their daily lives, a team from Romania competing to win a contemporary space race, and the rigorous training of space tourist Charles Simonyi.
I think it would be really cool to go into space. It seems like something I would totally enjoy. I'm pretty sure that I'll never get up there. I'm sure if I put my mind to it, there could be a chance that I could get closer to that goal (if not achieve it), but I have other priorities. If I acquire a bazillion dollars, I may become a space tourist, but otherwise, I don't want to turn my attention from my other pursuits.
Oh yes, I really liked the incidental music for this film. It thought it was well suited to the themes examined and well timed with certain visual moments on screen.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a Q&A after the film. It's always my favorite part of the screening and I could see it being quite enlightening for this doc.

- picture courtesy of hotdocs.ca

Candyman: The David Klein Story

I decided to do Hot Docs this year on the cheap. As such, I was limited to films that were showing before 6pm. There were still tons of docs to choose from, but for some reason, there weren't as many sticking out to me for definite viewing. Nonetheless, there were enough docs to keep me busy.
The first doc that I saw was Candyman: The David Klein Story (official website here). It's the story of David Klein, the man who invented Jelly Bellys. The doc highlighted his journey in the candy industry as an entrepreneur and inventor and his unwavering loyalty to those whom he worked with. This quality, unfortunately, allowed others to take advantage of him or allowed others to prosper where he continued to face some struggles. The biggest scandale, basically being wiped out from Jelly Belly history and loosing out on a ton of profit money.
There was also a component with his son, Bert Klein which I enjoyed. It talked of their relationship and we were able to see the story from a different point of view.
There was a Q&A with Costa Botes (the director), and David and Bert Klein. The questions were fairly mundane and didn't really provide any great responses. Although Bert was wearing the famous sparkly shirt/coat and David danced in wearing the matching hat, the Q&A didn't provide as many fun lighthearted moments as their entrance and David's presence in the doc would suggest. As I was watching the documentary I thought that he would be a great guest speaker talking to youth about good values, creativity, living life to the fullest and so much more. I was actually surprised by David's seemingly snide quips about Jelly Belly and big corporations. I mean, his comments were justified, but I really thought that he would be the type would wouldn't use this opportunity to rant and just quietly project positive vibes no matter how frustrated and hurt he may have felt. Maybe I misread something.
Anyway, another nice touch at the screening was the little baggies of Jelly Bellys that audience members received on the way into the theatre. I would have liked the little legend to tell me the flavours, but thanks to the internet, I don't need a hard copy.
I have to admit, that probably about 45-60 minutes into the doc, I started to get bored. I hope that it wasn't an indication of the doc, as I can't remember the last film that I saw that I didn't feel the same way. Perhaps more of an indication of my attention span.
One doc down, a couple more to go!

- picture courtesy of hotdocs.ca

Fashionably Wrapped: The Influence of Kashmir Shawls

I've never been to the Textile Museum of Canada, but I should probably make a trip there sometime. I'm sure that I would enjoy it.
I've got another commitment Wednesday night that I can't get out of, but if you've got the chance, perhaps the Curator's Tour for this exhibit would be interesting to attend.