yestiddy Hamilton

We threw caution to the wind and braved the cold and the traffic to go down to Hamilton and look at junk/antique stores. One in particular on Ottawa Street - Antique Avenue - is pretty awesome, being a basement filled with old comics, old books & magazines, old toys, and kitschy vintage this and that. I picked up a 'Humorama' magazine with Bill Ward & Dan Decarlo gag cartoons (& a cheesecake photo of Irish McCalla) and a Captain Future novel. They also had some kind of home stand designed to hold an Atari 2600, two controllers, and about a dozen carts - a professional piece of furniture I can't find a picture of online, sadly (no price). The other Ottawa Street shops were kinda just there. "Weird Stuff" on E. Main is worth a stop, though. Another shop on King St. has old LPs and movie posters and comics and a "Star Of The Giants" pachislot machine that I guess isn't for sale. I was very pleased with "Antique Avenue" though, that's the kind of mid-century kitsch, toy filled place that I love to shop in.

Got home, had coffee and dessert, watched our DVR of "Grizzly" which is a terrible film shot in Clayton GA (I called "Not the Rockies!" early in the picture), and had a lousy time getting to sleep because of the coffee, I think. I am mostly done with that Holly Hobbie book, and so far the resurrected ghost of Holly and her 13 year old modern-times pal have gone on a young teenage odyssey to Cambridge, New York City, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Mexico City (in the company of a punk rock band) and are about to use forged documents to enter Guatamala. It's the craziest book ever written about American Greetings characters, unless you count the book "Robotman & Charlie Manson Team Up To Fight Litter With Dinosaurs."

Today: I have to get the strip inked, and then we go see HOUSE tonight!!

worst restaurants in Toronto?!

Not to intrude on hipsterdad's territory, but I saw a blog recently that talked about the worst restaurants in Toronto by asking the readers the simple question, what's the worst restaurant in Toronto? No categories, limits, or elaborations - just what's the worst. He tallied up the votes and you can read them here.

The "winners" were kind of curious. Spring Rolls - a local slightly upscale Asian chain - got five votes, which is strange; I've had much worse Asian food in Toronto. I think the classy presentation and the lofty price point makes people more judgemental. Boston Pizza got three votes which is perfectly understandable; noisy sports-bar with mediocre service and food. last-resort suburb strip mall food. Fran's got three votes, which is NOT understandable - what else is open downtown at 3am? Nobody's expecting world class food at 3am. Their diner standards are perfectly acceptable. Magic Oven Pizza got 3 votes, which again supports my price point theory - their pizza is not bad but when you factor in what they charge for it, it gets a lot worse. They raised their prices several years ago and I haven't eaten there since. Pickle Barrel got two votes. It would be closer to the top of my "bad" list - their food is greasy, overpriced, and everything is served with nasty cabbagey slaw that has never failed to deliver acute gastrointestinal distress. Avoid. Gabby's got 2 votes, which is, like, whatever - as a chain sports bar where you can get hot wings at 2am it's perfectly servicable. Don't expect fine dining from bars, people. Liberty Noodle got one vote, which I do not agree with. They have interesting dishes reasonably priced and they are right across the street and I want them to stay open. Other one voters include Golden Griddle, which is overpriced and mediocre, and Dangerous Dans, which is is reasonably priced considering they give you a hamburger the size of your head with damn near anything you could want on it. And the booths are mini-van seats. We don't live on that side of town any more but there were times when their delivery service saved our lives. Try their milkshakes!