My friend Nancy has had a contest with her sister for years: they’ve been trying to outdo each other in giving the other some kind of “Hello Kitty”-themed gift. In this contest, there are only two criteria for a qualifying gift:
There’s even an airline — EVA Air — that’s adopted Hello Kitty as a mascot. EVA Air use the Hello Kitty brand everywhere. And I mean everywhere, even on their air sickness bags:
Last weekend, Wendy and I attended the Good Food Festival, an annual showcase of food vendors and cooking instructors sponsored by Food Network Canada. It features samples galore, either for free or a very low price, which means that you can get a complete lunch simply by “grazing”. Here are some photos I took at the festival.
I can’t resist a photo op with a mascot:
My Favourites
My favourite stall at the festival was Kozlik’s Mustard, who provided peameal bacon (that’s “Canadian bacon” to my American readers) sandwiches made with very nice ciabatta bread and a spread made with one of their spicy mustards.
Another favourite of ours were the sauces by the relatively new Redhead Pantry:
They make some tasty sauces! We got their barbecue sauce and their honey peach jalapeno sipping sauce, which I used to baste some chicken thighs for Sunday dinner. It’s really good stuff, and I hope this stuff finds its way to a store near us soon.
Under the “ready-made” category, my hand-down favourites: Key Lime Tofutti Cuties. Damn, they’re good!
An Engrish Encounter
Check out this banner we saw beside the barley tea stand:
Here’s a closer look at the text:
“Drinkable Magazine?” I have no idea what they’re trying to say.
Here’s a photo I’ve been meaning to take for a while: it’s a poster of the “ionCleanse” treatment being offered at a chiropractor’s office not far from my house. The treatment is purported to remove toxins from the body through the feet:
I’d love to see this device in action. I want to know how it muddies up your foot bath to make it appear as if “toxins” are being excreted from your feet. I also want to know what the brown goop is. Clay? Paint? Nestle Quik?
Albert Hoffman, discoverer of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and the man personally responsible for a lot of lost weekends (and possibly Burning Man), died yesterday at the age of 102.
Here’s the quick version of the story of his discovery of LSD, excerpted from Wired News:
Hofmann’s most famous discovery happened on April 16, 1943. He was researching the synthesis of a lysergic acid compound, LSD-25, when he inadvertently absorbed a bit through his fingertips. Intrigued by the effect it had on his perception, Hofmann decided further exploration was warranted. Three days later, on April 19, he ingested 250 micrograms of LSD, embarking on the first full-fledged acid trip. That day became known among LSD fans as “bicycle day” because Hofmann began experiencing the drug’s intense effects on his bicycle trip home from the lab.
For more on Dr. Hofmann’s life and passing, here are some links:
In tribute to Dr. Hofmann, here’s an excellent video treatment of William Shatner’s cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, complete with kitschy Star Trek and I Love Lucy graphics:
I’d like to wish Mark Kuznicki, Accordion City’s greatest policy wonk, organizer of events like Metronauts and member of the Toronto Tech Community in good standing, a very happy birthday! I’ll see you at the SummerCamp party tonight, Mark!
Here’s a photo of the line outside my local EB Games (the Runnymede/St. Clair location in Toronto) for Grand Theft Auto IV, taken last night at midnight:
The 30-car parking lot behind the store was full of cars that I could’ve sworn were lifted right from the previous game in the series, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: small sports cars painted in bright colours with lowered suspensions, chrome wheels and obnoxiously loud exhausts and stereos driven by guys in hoodies. The male-female ratio was high, but there actually were some teenage girls in line, which is a good sign: why should guys have all the realistically rendered fun in a virtual New York?
The door to the store is a few paces past the “no left turn” sign in the distance. I waited in line for about an hour and managed to get one of the last non-pre-ordered copies for the XBox 360.
A trailer for Grand Theft Auto featuring my character’s cousin Roman.
After getting back home, I played the game for about an hour, soaking up the the visually gorgeous opening sequence, running errands for my character’s cousin, Roman, shopping for clothes to impress a lady and beating up Albanian loan sharks. I’m going to have to jack a car and explore the city, as it’s so gorgeously rendered that it feels quite real. While the “San Francisco” segment of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas gave me the feeling of deja vu (I lived there for a year), Grand Theft Auto IV made me feel as if I was in Brooklyn right now.
Here’s a video of the opening of the game, featuring the title sequence and the first few minutes of mise en scene:
Here’s a video that does a pretty good job (and funny!) of summarizing what happened with Accordion City’s transit system and their strike. As an added bonus, it provides a breezy baedeker for Canadian and Toronto politics:
I give this video bonus points for its consistent message of “Nobody listens to the NDP” (and with good cause!).
Accordion City is waking up this fine Saturday morning to…a transit strike!
For those of you not from here, here’s a quick recap of what’s been happening:
The threat of a strike has been looming for the past little while. The union — Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 — promised to give at least 48 hours’ notice before a strike in order to allow the public time to make arrangements for alternate means of transport.
Friday is what PR people call “Take Out the Trash Day” — it’s a good day to make unpopular announcements, especially late in the day, because it’s when people don’t pay attention to the news. Many people were caught by surprise — on TV, they’re showing interviews of people who were stranded downtown last night. The unexpectedness of the strike, coupled with the union’s earlier promise of 48 hours’ notice, is not going to endear the union to the public.
If you showed the ad below for Arrow menswear to an advertising exec today, s/he’d probably say: “Too wordy! You can’t see the real product! The illustrations are too small!” It’s a shame, because I rather like the style of these old ads:
Click the ad to see it at full size. Image courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.
The French Fry Holder pictured above is in Improvements’ catalog. It’s currently not in stock, but I’m sure with enough demand, they’ll restock this life-changing apparatus!
Hold Your Fries In Your Car’s Cup Holder And Make Driving Safer.
Cars now come with several cup holders, and this innovative accessory helps you make the most of them! French-Fry Holder holds one order of fries (and its cardboard container) close at hand! Even has a clip-on ketchup cup! Can also hold snacks or crayons. Fits into virtually any-size cup holder, with a no-slip rubberized base grip to help it stay in place. Also fits in a child’s car seat’s cup holder. Dishwasher-safe.
Back in high school, after reading Space-Time and Beyond for the umpteenth time and drinking one too many zombies with my friend Henry, we came up with a theory:
In the infinite set of universes, there had to exist a particular universe in which the events in our lives were being watched as a TV show.
We then made a solemn vow to live the kind of life that got high ratings.
