January 3, 2011
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Huge Fire Downtown

We awoke this morning to reports on the radio of a huge fire at Yonge and Gould in Toronto’s downtown. This is the same building that was in the news last spring when a chunk of the facade fell to the sidewalk along Gould St., forcing the shut-down the popular Thai lunch spot, Salad King. From the photo in the Star, it looks like the HMV next door could be damaged as well.

There are apparently 33 firetrucks down there and all the streets surrounding the fire are closed off. I heard on the radio that two fire-fighters are being treated for injuries suffered while fighting the fire. I sure hope those guys are OK.

 

January 2, 2011
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Food

I came across this amongst my files this afternoon. A few years ago, I was doing some fly fishing and camping on the Upper Michigan Penninsula when I saw this sign at the side of the road. Food. Not burgers and fries; not pasties; not smoked whitefish; not all day breakfast; just food. You need it. We got it. I recall two things clearly from that trip (besides this sign). One was an enormous herd of deer I saw early one morning on the road up to Gwinn. Another was a sudden rainstorm so violent that visibility on the road became almost non-existent. It was a scary moment.

Obviously the colours in the photo have been enhanced, making it appear kind of like an old colour postcard.

January 1, 2011
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Clã Brasil & Sivuca – Feira de Mangaio

It’s been a while since I’ve featured Sivuca on this blog. I hope you enjoy his playing as much as I do. I don’t know a whole lot about Brasilian music. One of these days I’ll have to explore it thoroughly.

December 31, 2010
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Happy New Year

Happy New Years. This is list day. Everywhere there will be lists. Best of. Worst of. Who died. Blah blah blah. Consider 27th Street to be your list-free zone. Isn’t it good to know you have a place to go to get away from it all?

We don’t do a lot of New Years party-going at Anchovy World Headquarters. Usually we hang out at home, maybe order a pizza and watch a movie. If the rain that we’re supposed to get holds off, maybe we’ll go for a good walk with the dogs down by the lake.

How will you be ushering in 2011?

I’d like to thank all of you for stopping by, and in particular to thank that small circle of special friends who inexplicably keep coming back for more. I really appreciate your visits and your comments!

December 29, 2010
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Stem Cells for Dogs?

The Toronto Star published an article yesterday about a 7 year old Newfoundland dog getting stem cell therapy with apparent success. Check out the article. Lexi is the first dog to have stem cell treatments entirely in Canada.

December 28, 2010
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Cadillac Records

We watched Cadillac Records today on DVD with Candy and Stagg. The very best thing about it was that we got to hang out with Candy and Stagg. Prior to Christmas, we hadn’t seen them in about two years. The movie was pretty good too.

When I say pretty good, I mean it tells a compelling story – the story of Chess Records and some of the key figures that were part of that story such as Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and Etta James. It was fairly well acted. The music was excellent. There were some choice scenes throughout the film. I think this film would have been better for people who know little about this period in American blues history than for the blues freaks in the audience who know a lot more detail than the movie recounts.

On the five fish anchovy rating scale, I give this one 3 and a half salties.

December 27, 2010
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True Grit

We trundled off to see the Coen brothers’ remake of the Western classic True Grit this afternoon. I left the theatre both satisfied and puzzled. Several days ago I watched the original, so I was able to have that one fresh in my mind this afternoon when I sat down to watch the new version. I think the remake is a better film in many, perhaps in most ways, yet I don’t understand why the Coen brothers decided to make this film. I don’t see what they were trying to add to the conversation.

I’ve read reviews that suggested the remake is closer to the Charles Portis novel than it is to the first film, but really the remake isn’t all that different from the first movie, at least not enough that one might remark, “oh wow, this is a really different take on the story.” It is simply another version of the story, perhaps one that is more satisfying to our eyes today. Go see the Coen brothers version. I think you’ll really like it, and in particular, you’ll enjoy Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges, who is always great fun to watch in action.

December 26, 2010
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The Path

When I look at my site stats, I see that the most popular search terms landing people here over the past couple weeks have to do with the new skating path over in Sam Smith Park. I did a post about it while it was still in construction.

I haven’t skated for years, although when I did, I really enjoyed it. The skating path looks really nice, and there’s always quite a few people over there enjoying it. The other night, some of our family were visiting for Christmas and they went over for a skate. I see the skaters every day because the path is  just across the way from the dog park. You might not notice that if you go at night because the skating path got all the lights and the dog park got none. We take flashlights in the hopes of finding what we need to pick up.

This reminds me that the dog park sure could use some kind of wind break. I bet the City has some old bus shelters kicking around. One of those would help a lot by protecting us from the howling north winds that whip down that corridor. There was talk that trees would be planted in the fall to help block the wind but as far as I can see, nothing happened. The dog park is popular and a great variety of dogs and their owners venture there daily. They built a really nice fence and put in a couple benches, but to be honest I’d be happier with an ordinary chain link fence if the money were spent on a bit of shelter instead.

Anyway, enough of me going on about a bus shelter. The point of this post is really to tell people who come in here looking for information about the skating path that it seems to be an idea lots of people really like. It’s located south of Lakeshore Blvd in Sam Smith Park, south of Kipling Ave.