Monthly Archives: April 2008

Hello Pukey

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:

It must bear the image of Hello Kitty
It must serve some useful purpose

There’s no end [...]

Scenes from the Good Food Festival

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 [...]

Quackery in the ‘Hood

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 [...]

So Long, and Thanks for All the Melting Walls (or: R.I.P. Albert Hofmann)

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 [...]

Happy Birthday, Mark Kuznicki!

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!

Grand Theft Auto IV: Midnight Lineup and First Impressions

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 [...]

Montana Meth Project’s Billboards

These billboards produced by the Montana Meth Project are pretty striking. The question is: are they going to convince people not to do crystal meth?

Sign of the Times

I took the photo below in High Park station this morning:

This photo is a sign of two things:

The Toronto Transit Commission is back in action (and running smoothly from most accounts).
Grand Theft Auto IV gets released at midnight! All branches of Future Shop (except in Quebec and Sudbury) and EB Games as well as the [...]

The TTC Strike and Resolution, Summed Up Very Nicely

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 [...]

TTC Strike Surprise (Or: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People)

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 [...]

I Feel Your Pain, Bill…

I get the same expression on my face whenever I see Hillary:
Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

Cartoon Silhouettes

Here’s a fun little exercise — can you identify the cartoon characters by their silhouettes in the illustration below?
Click the image to see it at full size.Image courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.
[This was also posted in Global Nerdy.]

“Play-by-Play Account of a Strip Tease”

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 [...]

A Review of “The Other Boleyn Girl”, Summarized in One Picture

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.
Rotten Tomatoes, which takes all sorts of reviews for movies and computes an overall score, gave The Other Boleyn Girl a 40% rating.

Tired: Cup Holders. Wired: French Fry Holders!

“Even has a clip-on ketchup cup!”
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!
Here’s the description from the catalog:

French Fry Holder
Hold Your Fries In Your Car’s Cup Holder And Make Driving Safer.
Cars now come with several cup holders, [...]