Toronto often gets unfairly disparaged by the rest of Canada. Mostly by people who have never been there, or passed through once without any connection into the city. In reality, Toronto is an amazingly active, vibrant, and thriving metropolis. Diverse neighborhoods intertwined to form an economic and cultural powerhouse in North America.
It's lunchtime at Moose Camp after some good sessions. I'm quite intrigued by the idea of a Vancouver Transit Camp. That link is just a temporary home on the northernvoice wiki as the idea gathers steam.
Apparently Toronto recently held a Transit Camp that was an open discussion organized by local transit enthusiasts. They were focused on bringing forth solutions (as opposed to whining about problems). They got participation from the city and the TTC and came out of it on a positive road.
Some people here are talking about putting together a GVRD Transit Camp and I hope it happens. Check the Vancouver link above if you want to get involved.
It turns out that a lot of people I know are on the Facebook network. It's a pretty interesting people tracking and messaging system. It lets you import a RSS feed into 'notes' so these words will show there. It's too bad they don't let you put in a photo feed also, which would also be useful.
John Feld is an outrageously funny guy whom I know in Toronto. He has multiple sclerosis and represents disabled interests. He has a storied past: living on a commune, as a communist party operative, being a jackass, getting the poetry on the subway.
He's putting on the play of his dreams. A bank robbery goes down during the gimp pride parade. It's on August 3, 11, 13 in Toronto.
"Disgraceful! Tasteless! Hilarious! No taboo left unmolested. Costumed cripples in wheelchairs parading down the streets! Cripples in scooters making love out-doors."
On May 6th I'll be taking part in the Vancouver section of the Global Marijuana March to show my support for reforming Canada's antiquated drug laws. Under the previous government Canada was poised to bring our drug laws closer in line with the reality of our society. Unfortunately the Liberals delayed and delayed until they were booted out.
I'm not very optimistic that the Conservatives will bring about any positive changes to Canada's drug laws. This gives even more reason to go march and show your support. Canada could be a bellwether in the global move to rationalize marijuana laws, but we need to take some real action. Sending our peaceful protesters to the US to face lifetime imprisonment is not the route that I want to see this country take.
Here are the details I found for the major Canadian cities. Check here for info on other cities worldwide. Vancouver: meet at the Art Gallery at 2 PM on May 6th. Montreal: meet at Berri Square at 1 PM on May 6th. Toronto: meet at Queen's Park North from 11 am - 8 pm on May 6th.
Also, I took this opportunity to test out Youtube and upload the video I made from Montreal's 2003 Marijuana March. (Anybody know if I can change the frame it displays in the preview?)
The road trip down to Champaign-Urbana I went on last week was a ton of fun! We stopped in Ann Arbor, Champaign-Urbana, Chicago and Toronto along the way. I met up with a few hardcore Luxers in Chicago and they treated me to a wonderful night. In Toronto I got to see my family and a Dan Beirne comedy extravaganza!! Check out these fabulous road trip photos for a piece of the fun.
I've been back for about a week, and have been undergoing a move inside my apartment. My old bedroom is now the office, and the room previously known as Nikki's room is now the bedroom. Both of these rooms seem very promising in their new arrangements. Plus, now I'm sharing the Summerhill Palace with my awesometastic girlfriend. Huzzah!!
MANA - beyond belief is a film directed by a friend of my uncle's. The trailer looks really cool, and it appears to be generating some good buzz.
The opening is July 26th in Toronto, 7:00 PM at the Royal Cinema at College & Grace. Additional screenings on July 27, 28, and 30th (all at 7PM). It starts a regular run August 5 at Varsity VIP Cinema, Toronto. Hopefully it will come to Montreal sometime soon also.
After surfing around from the NYC improv fest that Mirzipan posted about I stumbled onto the 2005 Toronto Improv Festival that's happening August 15-21. Looks like it could be fun. They're also looking for interns to help out, so take a looksy if that seems intriguing.
The Toronto Improv Festival was actually previously mentioned on sillytech to boot!
On tuesday I am going to take the train back to Toronto to spend a week with my family. My brother just got back from spending a year in Australia, so it will be cool to see him. My plan is to do my christmas shopping on monday. I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete. Currently I am thinking of Christmas as a sexy holiday!
After Toronto I will be coming back to Montreal to spend new year's here. The party is at Vinny's house I believe. On January 2nd I will be flying across the pond. The plane arrives in London, England, but I am going to be spending January in Edinburgh, Scotland. As luck would have it Andrew's mum has a house and 2 cats that could use sitting over there. She gets back January 25th. My plans for February are vague at best. I am hoping to go visit my uncle phil in Germany, and I also have a desire to spend some time in France buffing up on the language.
I have to be in San Francisco for March 7th. So that puts a limit on my European travels. After that I guess I will come back to Montreal. Hopefully winter will have lost its edge by then.
