What an awesome couple of weeks Ive had.
It started with Eurogamer which was a nice day out in London playing some games, a few more days off work mostly spent chilling out or playing Borderlands, and then I was off to Toronto with Amy.
I frigging love that city; I can easily see myself going there for yet another holiday as we still didnt get to do everything we wanted to. Sneaky Dees was regularly suggested for somewhere to try but we never got round to going there.
So what did I get up to? Well we did a tour of Casa Loma (odd thing was while we were reading facts about Sir Henry Pellett; it appears that he visited Aldershot, my home town, in 1910. So here we are on a completely different continent the other side of the Atlantic and my hometown pops up!).
We revisited the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). The Michael Lee Chin part of the building was still being built when we first visited a few years ago, so now its finished we explored all the dinosaur/fossil exhibits (I liked the massive prehistoric Turtle and Flat Faced Bear skeletons). It also turned out that there was a special showing of this guys personal gem/jewellery collection in the geology section. Amy being a jeweller herself and loving gemstones this was great for her. I have to admit that the geology section was really interesting for me as well.
I really enjoyed the ancient Chinese and Japanese exhibits as well. The highlight was seeing a statue of Guan Yu.
We had been chatting to and became friendly with some of the staff members in Neon on Queen Street, and one night we all took a trip to an open mic comedy night. I cant quite remember the name of the bar/venue, it couldve been called Central, or something like that. It wasnt too bad for open mic, some of the comedians were actually really funny, and those that werent any good were funny just because it was so bad.
All the comedians seemed to like mentioning rape for some reason though. I get the impression lately that within comedy it has become almost fashionable to mention rape in you routines. But when unskilled comedians are obviously shoehorning it into their routines it becomes more apparent that they are just doing it to jump on the bandwagon. It was kind of odd and everyone present noticed it.
I had always intended to see some live music during our stay. I knew that AFI and the Gallows were going to be playing Tuesday night, and that was a possibility although I havent heard any AFI for a good few years (mostly heard them through punk samplers I used to get) and Ive not really heard much Gallows either, but I was willing to give it a shot. Another option for Tuesday night was seeing Vader and a bunch of other bands at the Mod Club. Ive heard OF Vader but dont think Ive actually listened to any of their stuff. I noticed that Swashbuckle was also on the line-up. While Im not a fan of Pirate-Metal or whatever they class themselves as, it couldve made for an interesting evening. But this is all a completely moot point as Tuesday is the night we went to see the comedy!
So we were at this record shop on Yonge Street which also sells tickets and we found out Wolfmother were playing on Wednesday so we grabbed tickets for them in the end.
The Kool Haus was a nice venue. Me and Amy promptly grabbed some seats with the intention of if the support acts were any good we would get up and watch them. No worries there then because both support acts were massively dull. It was as close you could get to the levels of Muzak dullness with a live band. Their tunes washed over me like waves of liquid boredom, not one song provoking me to pay attention, which is a shame. But then Wolfmother hit the stage. All hair and classic rock goodness. Every song was a winner, and the bands stage presence was electric, particularly the bass/keyboard player who has seemed to base is appearance/moves on Animal from the Muppets. Maybe the organisers purposely chose mediocre support bands to amplify Wolfmothers turn, if so it worked a bloody treat!
I have to note, one morning I was reading the entertainment guide in one of the newspapers and it appears that pretty much the day we left a spate of really good gigs starts and continues all the way into mid December. Please, Toronto, next time rearrange these to fit in with my holiday schedule. Ta.
The night before we had to return to the UK, I went to Armoured Soul on Queen Street and got my tattoo retouched up. They are really nice folks in there and the shop itself was very cool.
So besides all of these jollities it was mostly a lot of shopping and eating maybe a bit too much, but the whole holiday was amazing and really recharged my batteries, although the amount of walking we did was obscene.
Oh and ban kids from flying on the same plane as me. It makes me a angry panda.
So I'll leave you with a song. I chose it for 2 reasons. It's on the album I was listening to on repeat on the flight home to try and aid my sleep and this tracks called "Oh! Toronto" Fitting.
Take care.
It started with Eurogamer which was a nice day out in London playing some games, a few more days off work mostly spent chilling out or playing Borderlands, and then I was off to Toronto with Amy.
I frigging love that city; I can easily see myself going there for yet another holiday as we still didnt get to do everything we wanted to. Sneaky Dees was regularly suggested for somewhere to try but we never got round to going there.
So what did I get up to? Well we did a tour of Casa Loma (odd thing was while we were reading facts about Sir Henry Pellett; it appears that he visited Aldershot, my home town, in 1910. So here we are on a completely different continent the other side of the Atlantic and my hometown pops up!).
We revisited the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). The Michael Lee Chin part of the building was still being built when we first visited a few years ago, so now its finished we explored all the dinosaur/fossil exhibits (I liked the massive prehistoric Turtle and Flat Faced Bear skeletons). It also turned out that there was a special showing of this guys personal gem/jewellery collection in the geology section. Amy being a jeweller herself and loving gemstones this was great for her. I have to admit that the geology section was really interesting for me as well.
I really enjoyed the ancient Chinese and Japanese exhibits as well. The highlight was seeing a statue of Guan Yu.
We had been chatting to and became friendly with some of the staff members in Neon on Queen Street, and one night we all took a trip to an open mic comedy night. I cant quite remember the name of the bar/venue, it couldve been called Central, or something like that. It wasnt too bad for open mic, some of the comedians were actually really funny, and those that werent any good were funny just because it was so bad.
All the comedians seemed to like mentioning rape for some reason though. I get the impression lately that within comedy it has become almost fashionable to mention rape in you routines. But when unskilled comedians are obviously shoehorning it into their routines it becomes more apparent that they are just doing it to jump on the bandwagon. It was kind of odd and everyone present noticed it.
I had always intended to see some live music during our stay. I knew that AFI and the Gallows were going to be playing Tuesday night, and that was a possibility although I havent heard any AFI for a good few years (mostly heard them through punk samplers I used to get) and Ive not really heard much Gallows either, but I was willing to give it a shot. Another option for Tuesday night was seeing Vader and a bunch of other bands at the Mod Club. Ive heard OF Vader but dont think Ive actually listened to any of their stuff. I noticed that Swashbuckle was also on the line-up. While Im not a fan of Pirate-Metal or whatever they class themselves as, it couldve made for an interesting evening. But this is all a completely moot point as Tuesday is the night we went to see the comedy!
So we were at this record shop on Yonge Street which also sells tickets and we found out Wolfmother were playing on Wednesday so we grabbed tickets for them in the end.
The Kool Haus was a nice venue. Me and Amy promptly grabbed some seats with the intention of if the support acts were any good we would get up and watch them. No worries there then because both support acts were massively dull. It was as close you could get to the levels of Muzak dullness with a live band. Their tunes washed over me like waves of liquid boredom, not one song provoking me to pay attention, which is a shame. But then Wolfmother hit the stage. All hair and classic rock goodness. Every song was a winner, and the bands stage presence was electric, particularly the bass/keyboard player who has seemed to base is appearance/moves on Animal from the Muppets. Maybe the organisers purposely chose mediocre support bands to amplify Wolfmothers turn, if so it worked a bloody treat!
I have to note, one morning I was reading the entertainment guide in one of the newspapers and it appears that pretty much the day we left a spate of really good gigs starts and continues all the way into mid December. Please, Toronto, next time rearrange these to fit in with my holiday schedule. Ta.
The night before we had to return to the UK, I went to Armoured Soul on Queen Street and got my tattoo retouched up. They are really nice folks in there and the shop itself was very cool.
So besides all of these jollities it was mostly a lot of shopping and eating maybe a bit too much, but the whole holiday was amazing and really recharged my batteries, although the amount of walking we did was obscene.
Oh and ban kids from flying on the same plane as me. It makes me a angry panda.
So I'll leave you with a song. I chose it for 2 reasons. It's on the album I was listening to on repeat on the flight home to try and aid my sleep and this tracks called "Oh! Toronto" Fitting.
Take care.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
scarringthewound:
You told me to tap you hard when I return so I'm tapping you bloddy hard! Bevis, how the hell are you mate? Never been to Toronto but my parents have and they enjoyed it too. That's pretty bizarre that a teeny weeny English town like Aldershot would be mentioned on a Canadian tour! When people grow tried of rape what will the funnymen think of next? Oooh got me tattoo done yesterday on my dear wrist, you'll be pleased to know... stayed tuned for my next blog for the pics.
scarringthewound:
Ah there's more to life than dear old SG. I've only paid for 1 month's membership and then I'm off again... only to return at a later date yet again. Thanks for the comments over my tatt- that's exactly the effect I was after. Didn't want photorealist. Normally I'm an admirer of the black and grey style but I like how this one looks like it's fallen out of some occult or pseudo-science text book. Currently at that irritating stage in the healing process when it itches like mad but have to refrain from scratching for fear that I'll pluck off bits of scab prematurely.