Sharkboy

People who know me well, know that I love Tintin.. Actually I don’t love Tintin, I LOVE Tintin… When I was in grade school, that’s all I wanted to read, I’d take the books home from school and spend evenings in bed fantasizing that I was him fighting the bad guys… Tintin and a few of other comic books were very popular for us French boys in the 60′s and 70′s.

After I moved to English Canada in the early ’90s, I realized I was missing some of my French cultures and an easy fix to that was finding solace in the few Tintin books or movies I had at the time. Slowly but surely, birthdays/xmas, were good time for me to get the missing books and complete the collection… which I hold dearly.

I’m very excited about Spielberg’s Tintin movie coming out at Christmas time. From what I’ve seen so far it looks amazing…

In the meantime, I try to get my hands on anything Tintin, and when DR told me about this fun exhibit at the Steam Whistle Brewer Round House, we decided that today would be a great to visit. I’ll let the pictures talk for themselves and please go visit. It’s free and it’s awesome…

Here are some examples of what you can expect in no particular order of love, except, well, Jaws / sharks always win first place. The light natural light in the space isn’t good for photography, so my apologies to the artists if your work didn’t come out as gorgeous here as it is in real life:

Artist: Brice Hall (My two loves in one picture)

Artist: Noel Tuazon (he brought Tintin to visit our city… awesome)

Artist: Nik Dudukovic (Best Capt. ever)

Artist: John Martz, who also had another amazing print with Star Wars flair

Artist: Jean-Marc Ahsen, (great take on a famous Tintin iconic drawing)

This freakin’ awesome artist: M. Daley… I fell in love with that piece… Need. Want.

Artist: Ben Rivers

Artist: Marta Chudolinska (I laughed out loud when I saw this one)

Artist: Ray Fawkes (full of awesomeness)

Artist: Maurice Vellekoop, who I was lucky enough to meet at a comics convention and buy a great print from.

Artist: M. Cherkas

Artist: Marek

Artist: Ryan Dogson (another one full of awesomeness)

Artist: I’m so apologetic, I didn’t write this artist’s name down but love this print too much to not post it anyway… WSM? Hom2ge??

Artist: Miguel Sternber (my fave 8bit drawing ever in the world)

Artist: Torry Woollcott (wheeee indeed)

Artist: Kara Sievewright (love the native american folklore inspiration)

Artist: Kean Soo (this is so all that and a bag of chip amazing)

Artist: Britt Wilson (surely inspired by the Blue Lotus book)

Artist: Hugh Langis

Go see this free exhibit. Go give these artists some love.

This time, we set out early on Saturday morning with our cameras fully charged and walked to Balfour Park, then from St-Clair Ave East to Spadina Ave, South to Casa Loma. Here are the pictures:

Right at the entrance to Balfour Park from Mount Pleasant Blvd, I walked right past this gem, only to be alerted by DR. This web was huge, at least 3 feet across, between the branches of a tree and the high grass below. There was enough light coming through to make it glisten. A thing of beauty.

Burrs. They used to be fun weapons when we were young and would throw those at each other. Girls’ hair was a primary target. The least fun was when our dog or cat would come home with those all over their fur…

Taken with my iPhone as my DSLR couldn’t really capture the mist in the air. Processed through Instagram’s filter and love.

This squirrel stayed around to say hello was we walked along St-Clair Ave, nearing Avenue Road.

Close-up of one of the fairies from the Peter Pan statue on Avenue Road. Always loved that little parkette and this statue. It was just one block away from my first home in Toronto and I used to go there a lot to read. Good times.

At Sir William Churchill’s park, we took in the view from above the valley. This flock of birds was spooked by a jogger who couldn’t lift her fucking feet and shuffled all the gravel and dust around her, annoying all the peacefulness that could’ve have existed there. Luckily my camera was ready. Fuck off bitch for not knowing how to run but thanks for the great opportunity with my camera.

At the bottom of Sir Winston Churchill’s park, we took the wooden trails and this little chipmunks curiously came to check things out.

Casa Loma, seen through the iPhone looking directly at the sun. I love the effect it has on that particular camera.

A tower and a jet engine. DR and I have this joke going ever since we were at a corner waiting for the green light and the moron couple behind us were discussing the jet engine trail in the sky above us. He stupidly said that it was the International Space Station that was probably falling to earth and she even more stupidly asked if it meant it was going to rain. If I recalled properly, DR had so straddle me to the sidewalk so I wouldn’t punch kick those 2 idiots, but ever since we always laugh when we see trails in the sky.

Closer to home, as I was taking a picture on a wall, I saw that DR was having fun in the reflection of this mirror. Who was I to not take the picture.

Check out DR’s entries by clicking this link and let us know who won…

Thanks to my good friend Bearexposed in California for sending me this link…
I WANT. I NEED. I MUST HAVE…
Could this be the coolest toy ever?

This year in Toronto, we received the help of one helluva Sandtrooper. He came to visit and help raised funds for AIDS research through the Toronto AIDS Walk.

Our Trooper raised $2506.66 mostly through family and friends we know from different social media onlline. On behalf of this amazing Sandtrooper, I thank you all for your help.

I met the Sandtrooper earlier this morning before the walk and went with him, here are some pictures I took:

Leaving home, ready for the challenge.

Posing for the cameras.

Close up. He’s so freakin’ cute.

Trying to find out news from the alien mega conservative planet that publish the Toronto Sun…

Arriving at destination.

Posing with fighters.

Even dogs like our Empire visitor.

Posing with more fighters.

And with the little ones too.

Let the marching begin.

Sandtrooper scanning his crowd.

Find the Sandtrooper…

Sandtrooper found a friend. Yeh!

And “smack!”. Great job Santrooper.

And the walk is done for another year…

At the latest count, the Toronto AIDS Walk has raised $432,000 dollars this year and is still counting. Great job everyone.

It’s a very nice Sunday morning, we’re getting ready for this afternoon’s Toronto AIDS walk and I have a few minutes to update my blog… So here are a few pictures I took on our last trip involving nature and weather.
California really is a majestic location on this earth, I love pretty much everything about it:

Driving Above The Clouds On Gorgeous Highway #1

Slug On A Tree

Bug On A Flower

Hummingbird Resting On A Branch

Bug On A Plant

Bird Resting. (He secretly really was waiting for me to take his picture)

Bird Chirping. Chirp Little Buddy, Chirp.

Bird In Flight. Woosh.

Dolphin Swimming In Huntington Beach. His Friend Was Shy and Dove. Shy Dolphins Suck.

Surfer Surfing. (This is the same beach they filmed Point Blank… whoaaaa)

Seagull Resting On A Red Post. Therefore Belly Feathers Are Pinkish. There, Now You Know.

Pelican Waiting For Next Meal.

Aaarf!

For No Reasons I Have To Explain Here, This Will Make My Sister Smile And Maybe Cry.

“I Ruv You”

Another Slug, This Time On A Plant, Not A Tree.

Bee. The Stinging Kind.

Beach City (Seriously, that’s what this place is called) On A Foggy Afternoon.

A Flower. Colour = Orange.

A Flower. Colour = Pink & White.

Alcatraz Coming Out.

Golden Gate Bridge. Believe Me. It Is The Golden Gate Bridge.

Fruits On Tree. Don’t Know The Kind. It’s Pretty, OK… Love It Too. There.

I Want My Next Home To Be There. In The Presidio. Someone Make This Happen Please.

Giant Palm. Giant Glass House. Me = Small Creature.

Banana Slug, Doing What Banana Slugs Do. Sliming Around Redwoods.

Trails In Redwoods Country. Me Likey.

Guarding Bridge Number Four.

Another Trail In Redwood Country. Pretty Ain’t It?

On A Cliff.

Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hill. Quaaaaack!!!

Another Flower. Colour = Yellow.

Flowers With A View.

Walking In San Francisco. Great Legs Will Be Made.

More Orange Flowers.

Lemon.

Another Flower. Colour = Purple.

Woa, Oooa, Black Kitty…

Another Flower. Colour = Crazy.

Another Flower. Colour = Red.

Alki.

Seal Swimming. Swin Seal, Swim.

Another Flower… so many of them… Colour = Pink.

Pompoms…

Golden Gate Bridge. Prettiest Bridge Of All.

Golden Gate Bridge.

This morning, I greeted the first guest in the line with my usual: “Good morning” and his reply surprised the shit out of me when out of nowhere he said: “I want a court date and no attitude please”. So I gave him a form and number and when the 2nd guest came to the window, she made a face and I said: “Well, good morning to you too”. She laughed. It gave me an idea to write down what people say to me after I’ve greeted them or their reaction after I tell them exactly what they need to do after leaving my counter:

“I want a court date and no attitude please”
“I want a piece of justice” (Our court works with Justice of the Peace, but I love it everytime I hear this remix of it)
“It’s not busy on Wednesdays”
“you’re wasted here” (from an agent who has many time complimented our work in other departments)
“Why the fuck can’t you guys all work in the same building?” (after telling a guest he had to go to a different location for what he needed to do)
“So I have to fill this out?”
“How long will I be here for?”
“Can I get a number?” (I always want to look like I’m thinking about it then say 11? Then say Next!)
“if I plead guilty do I have to write the offence number on the form or is that only when you plead not guilty?”
“So after I fill it out I bring it back to you”
“Was my number called?”
“I don’t speak English”
“I want to claim this ticket”
“I have court at 9, 10:30 and 1:30″
“Hi, I’m a blonde, I forgot my court date”
Me: it’s not a criminal offence, don’t worry too much – her: No, it’s a Rob Ford offence (our Mayor’s name)
“I need to do one of those” (pointing at the cabinet where we store a good dozen and a half different forms)
“Wow, it’s not a zoo in here” (commenting on how soft spoken people seemed to be in the waiting room)
“Date wrong no here”
“I want to send it to the court”
“My last name is misspelled, can you void this?”
“Can I pay with money?”
Him: “I called the 1-800 number and couldn’t get through” Me: because we don’t have one…
“I want to ask a question to you”
“I need a number 3″
“Same thing as this woman”
“I want to be forgiven for this ticket” (In my mind: I forgive you my child)
Me: do you have your driver’s licence? Him: No, just my bus pass
“Where do I go with this?”
“Can I have a yellow form? (those dozen and a half forms I was talking about? yeah, all on yellow paper)
“I have a fire code”
“I want to pay money”
“I just came to get a number”
“Hey boss, I don’t get mail to me”
“A date!”
“What are my options” (not even a question mark, just a statement)
“I have a letter that says I’m in Court Room C4 at 3pm and my name is not on the list. (slams his hand on the counter) Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“Pay” (pause) “Pay, pay, pay!”
“To set” (I guessed he meant To set a court date… well, that’s what I gave him anyway)
Him: “Is it busy?” Me: “You can see that for yourself (he was standing in the middle of the waiting room)
“Apparently I need some icon prints for these!” (From a very regular agent who comes on a daily basis but sometimes seems to forget… sad really)
“No guilt” (I think she meant she wanted to plead not guilty, she got a form and a number anyway)
“Is this where I get a ticket?” (4 feet away from the giant sign that says “Get A Ticket At The Information Booth”)
“Where is the prosecutor’s office? I need to file some motions (The motions he’s referring to have the addresses of those prosecutors he’s looking for, none of them in our building, I just pointed to his own information and he left)
“I think I missed my number!” (at 3:16 pm from a person I saw before going to lunch at 1:00 pm… it takes about 20 minutes to be served.. yeah, you missed your number)

And Then, this is a great conversation I had at 2:39 pm with a very angry man:

Him: Sometime cop no come to court, what happen?
Me: The prosecutor will make a recommendation
Him: Why cop no in court?
Me: For many reasons, maybe he just worked all night and has to go to bed instead
Him: That personal reason, he have to be there (all serious and angry about it)
Me: Why are you getting all upset about this, it would work in your favour if he doesn’t show up, prosecutor might ask to withdraw the charges
Him: I not upset, I happy
Me: I’d hate to see you upset if this is happy

How was your Wednesday?

TIFF is in town, the Toronto International Film Festival, and although it is a prestigious event, I’m not really interested in shelling money to participate in it.

In September, half of Hollywood comes to town for the TIFF. It is a fan festival, they play tons of commercial movies that will have a wide release in a few weeks or months, so the urgency of having to see the big films totally goes away with that, if I wait next month I’ll see the same film at regular price ($13), not the augmented festival one ($22.25). I’m not necessarily cheap, maybe I just have a tad of common sense. I realize that it is a big deal for others and they do prepare for it for a long time, take their vacation this week and stay in town to see as many films as they can, get the bragging right to say they saw a movie first at the festival, sometimes in their “raw” version, before the studios get involved, and I don’t denied their emotions, it’s just not for me. One thing I must say is that this fan festival has accurately rewarded lots of movies which went on to win Oscars…

Just on Friday, a good friend asked me on email if I was planning to attend any showings and I took my time answering as I know some people might be sensitive to my insensitivity, so I typed this: “No tiff-ing at all for me, don’t like that circus of fakeness… I’ve only been to one TIFF movie, it was a documentary of the audition process for the revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway… and it was amazing… but it was ridiculously overpriced at $20 a ticket, there was a super long line to buy in person, then on the morning of the movie we had to line up for 1.5 hr so we could have a decent seat in the theatre, and to finish me off completely, I spent that 1.5 hr listening to the pretentiousness of the conversations from “would-be” or as I like to call them “homemade” movie critics and they “oh so la la” reviews. My ears were bleeding just after the first 3 minutes, so no, no tiff-ing for me.”

And then, on my way home, just on Friday again, I was stopped on Gerrard St as the Ryerson Theatre was emptying out after a movie, this “security guard” held his hand up at me to stop walking to let the movie goers past first. I looked at him with one eyebrow raised and said: “Dude, it’s a movie line up, talk to me when it’s something important” and I pressed my way expertly through the movie crowd without as much as touching one of them. Of course, with the face I was making, no one attempted to touch me either…

So yeah, I know TIFF is a lot more than what I just wrote about, but now you know why I won’t be tiff-ing.

This is just a friendly public announcement message for all the new Ryerson students at the downtown location. The residents of Toronto understand that you are excited to have left mommy’s and daddy’s place for the first time in you life. We also know that 25% of you will be going back home before Halloween because it’s just not working out for you and you can’t adjust to the new lifestyle or your grades are just sucking the big one too much. The residents of Toronto understand all that. What they don’t understand though is why you feel the need to get out of your apartments or dorms and go to classes or shopping or go for walks in your fucking pyjamas. Another thing that the residents of Toronto don’t understand is why you all feel it’s ok to have your after class discussions on the sidewalks and block the entire way for those walking by. That’s why the residents of Toronto built Starbucks, or other restaurants, or libraries, or parks, cafeterias, or malls… Another thing the residents of Toronto are questioning is why were you all at HMV today spending your student loans on CD’s and DVD’s and Star Wars t-shirts (although those are freakin’ cool) instead of buying books for classes… And this resident of Toronto doesn’t want to hear, while in line at the cash register, about Cassandra who hasn’t been to classes yet because she’s still sick from the Monday night party… Cassandra probably took a spot away in that class from a very deserving student who would have completely rocked that professor’s world with her brilliant ideas, but no, she couldn’t come because Cassandra stole the spot so she could come to the big smoke to party her ass off… Way to go Cassandra, you selfish bitch…

This month, I am scheduled at the Information Booth at work… It’s a very lonely and small place with bad ventilation and room enough for 1.5 person. I call it The Cage.

And joy of all joys, the Info Booth is the first place people go to when they arrive at our court location, this is where we “triage” them into the different waiting rooms they will have to go and give them all the different forms they have to fill out while waiting their turn at those particular counters. It’s a fairly simple job, although you do have to be very versed in all the office functions, but you are the first person they see after receiving a traffic ticket and not one of them is happy to see you. So I ask how I can help them, they briefly describe what they’re looking to do, I give them a number and, if necessary, forms to fill out. I then direct them to their specific waiting room. In a perfect world, each person should be at my counter less than 20 seconds. The info booth will see approximately 350 people on a “normalish” day. Sometimes it’s more… in fact, often it is more. It is a busy desk and there’s not much time for niceties.

Here’s a sample of what happened today before lunch.

1. This was the 3rd person I saw this morning after the doors unlocked, she slapped her ticket on my counter and said: “This officer committed a grave injustice by giving me this ticket. It was obviously an emergency for me to be on the phone.” I asked: “Are you looking to take this to court?” She said: “No, I need you to tell me where I can find his boss so I can complain about it”. I pointed to the information on the ticket showing which division the officer worked for and asked her to get in touch with that police station. She replied: “So, you’re not going to do anything about it?” to which I said: “Yes, I can give you a form to fight it in court.”

2. As you enter our office, there is a great big huge sign, 24 x 36 in, with big bold letters that reads: PLEASE OBTAIN A TICKET AT THE INFORMATION BOOTH. A woman asked: “Do I have to get a ticket like that sign says?” I said: “That’s what the sign says…”

3. After explaining options to a guy, he asked me to repeat, to which my “are you serious” face came on right away and he said: “I know you’ve already told me but I wasn’t listening.” to which I replied: “Yeah, it’s pretty much par in this place.”

4. After the second greeting to someone whose turn it was but wasn’t paying attention, the woman finally turned to me and said: “Are you talking to me?”.

5. One guy arrived at my counter and said: “I want to pay this”. I gave him a numbered ticket to get to the counter and said he cashier would call it shortly. He then replied: “No, I mean, I want to take it to court”. Without rolling my eyes too loudly, I printed a different kind of numbered ticket and gave him a form to fill out. He then asked: “How long do I have to change my mind if I decide to pay the ticket?”. I told him he’d have to make a decision by the time they call his number. He went on: “Will I be able to discuss this with a Justice of the Peace before I pay?” I looked at him and said: “it’s really your choice to do whatever you choose to do and we’ll make sure you can do that today, but you have to stop changing your mind every time I answer your questions.” Then I got: “Ok, I’ll pay!”

6. One guy came with a parking ticket which we cannot accept at our location as they have their own offices throughout the city. I asked him to take a look at the offices at the back of his ticket and that he’d have to go to one of those instead. He insisted that we were one of the locations to which I said: “Sorry sir, I’m afraid we’re not”. He insisted on handing me the ticket anyway, so I turned it around and showed him the 4 locations I was referring too. After looking at it quickly, he ripped it off my hands and was about to say something, but didn’t, and stormed out and then added: “I’ll get my day in court, don’t worry asshole!”

7. About 30 minutes later, another person came in with a parking ticket, this time he wanted to pay, so I explained that he couldn’t do that here and referred to the back of his ticket for location. So he immediately said: “What the fuck are you good for then?”. Without missing a beat, I replied: “I’m told I make a pretty good spaghetti sauce!”

8. The counter at the info booth has a very small opening in the plexiglass window, big enough to slide papers back and forth really. While it wasn’t busy, one guy came and asked if I could throw out his half-emptied coffee cup and paper wrapping from whatever he had just eaten, putting them on the ledge, like I was suppose to force them through the little opening in the window… I replied: “No, I can’t. But if you just turn around, there’s a garbage can right there.” I’m not kidding when I say that a big fat ugly beige square garbage bin was less than 5 feet away from where he was standing…

9. This lady came back to my counter with the form I had given her to fill out less than 15 minutes ago. She asked if she should get a new form or would they accept this one. I took a look at what she was holding. All the information had been written then scratched off and written again on top of the scribbage and some of it scratched again… I didn’t answer, I just gave her a new form. I’m sure she figured it out she was supposed to rewrite it all over again before they call her number.

10. After explaining the specific paperwork a gentleman had to do to file a motion to change a court date, he quickly unbuttoned his shirt to show me a VERY recent incision on his chest and said: “How can I do all this after I’ve had heart surgery?” I told him he could get assistance from any family members, it was allowed. He picked up the papers and asked what he was supposed to do when they called him at the counter. I said: “Well, don’t be so graphic next time you want to tell someone you’ve had surgery and make sure you forms are filled out, the clerk at the counter will do the rest.”

11. One guy arrived at my counter and said: “I have a terminal illness. What can I do about this ticket?”

12. One guy arrived at my counter and made the international sign of “writing in the air”, you know, the one you do at a restaurant to signal the waiter you’d like the bill? I just said: “Sir, I can answer your question, but I don’t do mime”. He asked for a form to request a court date…

13. As I was finishing with a customer and he was picking up his papers on the counter, the guy behind him rushed himself in front of him so I could help him right away. I wanted to point out how rude he was so I said: “You couldn’t wait for that person to be finished before rushing the counter?” He replied: “No, I don’t want to be late to file this”…

And that was just the morning’s best moments…