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mining for gold
May. 20th, 2010 12:06 pmOut into the hinterlands last weekend for a speedy commando-style trip into the pleasant countryside in spite of the closure of the Gardiner for road work. What other major North American city shuts down - all lanes, both directions - shuts down the main expressway leading through downtown for maintenance? Other cities manage to do this one lane at a time and traffic is annoyed, but not killed dead; but to Toronto the automobile is a nuisance, barely tolerated and subject to indignities and humiliations. I'm against urban sprawl as much as the next guy, but there are better ways to handle the roads than this. Especially considering the Gardiner will be soon closed AGAIN to let people bike on it and the TWO marathons that will close main roads later in the year. Not to mention that when the roads are all open and in perfect shape, they're STILL two lanes too small in each direction to handle the traffic. It's not 1970 any more, Toronto. If you're going to close the Gardiner, add a few lanes while you're at it. Yeah, I know, the big plan is to knock the Gardiner down. Sure, do that. Make sure that entering and exiting the city takes everybody two solid hours of sitting in traffic at expensively designed, beautifully landscaped intersections filled with honking cars. THAT'LL show the world Toronto is a REAL world class city!
Whew! sorry about the rant. Anyway here's what we rescued from the sticks. We saw this on our last trip out there and basically decided we had to have it.
Not really sure what this was made for or where it was used- the proprietor figured it was from a movie theater that catered to the Saturday kiddie crowd. Takes 3 bulbs in back. We put 40watts in there, but they seem a little warm, so we may move down a notch. Anyway, it's awesome. In the same place we saw the following note:
Yes, these videotapes purchased by your brilliant grandchildren are in perfect shape. I say this because I don't know if the crayon all over the "Crayola" videotape is part of a brilliant design scheme, or irony in action. I think it actually is deliberate. Anyway, the note works - there was an entire shelf full of kiddy VHS there our first trip and when we returned only 3 were left.
Other stuff we got: Shotaro Ishinomori Shonen Magazine CYBORG 009 print as sold by the Family Mart chain of Japanese convenience stores.
Shain's old pal Roy spotted this in Tokyo and figured we were the target market, and he was right, and he was kind enough to pick one up for us. It comes framed and matted and everything! Thanks Roy!
In other news you should go to Found Sound and listen to two songs that celebrate Canada's multilingual heritage as presented by the Commissioner Of Official Languages circa 1975.
Yes, that famous native Canadian bird, the parrot, is our spokesmascot here. He's magic, apparently. There was a comic book that went with this record, but sadly it's missing from our purchase, or you'd be reading it at Stupid Comics. Speaking of which, time for me to get to work on this week's installment!!
Whew! sorry about the rant. Anyway here's what we rescued from the sticks. We saw this on our last trip out there and basically decided we had to have it.
Not really sure what this was made for or where it was used- the proprietor figured it was from a movie theater that catered to the Saturday kiddie crowd. Takes 3 bulbs in back. We put 40watts in there, but they seem a little warm, so we may move down a notch. Anyway, it's awesome. In the same place we saw the following note:
Yes, these videotapes purchased by your brilliant grandchildren are in perfect shape. I say this because I don't know if the crayon all over the "Crayola" videotape is part of a brilliant design scheme, or irony in action. I think it actually is deliberate. Anyway, the note works - there was an entire shelf full of kiddy VHS there our first trip and when we returned only 3 were left.
Other stuff we got: Shotaro Ishinomori Shonen Magazine CYBORG 009 print as sold by the Family Mart chain of Japanese convenience stores.
Shain's old pal Roy spotted this in Tokyo and figured we were the target market, and he was right, and he was kind enough to pick one up for us. It comes framed and matted and everything! Thanks Roy!
In other news you should go to Found Sound and listen to two songs that celebrate Canada's multilingual heritage as presented by the Commissioner Of Official Languages circa 1975.
Yes, that famous native Canadian bird, the parrot, is our spokesmascot here. He's magic, apparently. There was a comic book that went with this record, but sadly it's missing from our purchase, or you'd be reading it at Stupid Comics. Speaking of which, time for me to get to work on this week's installment!!
