23 May 2008 The Chocolate Has Arrived!

the chocolate has arrived!

Of course, the cats get the FedEx box.

Remember my Nokia 6682 that I got from a marketing company and was nicked in Cuba? (I really liked that phone *sob*) Yep, the same marketing company sent me a boatload of Dove chocolate to try.

Am I going to share? Why, yes!

22 May 2008 Hot Enough For Ya?
 |  Category: Food + Drink  | Leave a Comment

hot enough for ya?

Pho Hung Vietnamese Restaurant
350 Spadina Ave., Toronto

Their lemongrass chicken is pretty good… mmm-m-mm, lemon grass. I like the option of fresh hot peppers, although I’m more likely to take a photo of them rather than add them to my dish.

21 May 2008 A Few Videos From Cuba
 |  Category: Cuba, Videoclips  | Leave a Comment

I uploaded a few videos from Havana to the Flickr servers, until I have more free time to devote to post-processing photography. They’re all pretty short, and shot in this order:

  1. riding in front of the Capitol building
  2. riding around the Capitolio, into Barrio Chino (Chinatown)
  3. riding in Barrio China (about 1% of Cuba’s population is Chinese)

I’m riding in a scooter the shape of an egg. You’ll see some go by in the videos.

more…

20 May 2008 Toronto City Hall
 |  Category: Toronto  | Leave a Comment

Toronto City Hall

This is probably my favourite shot of City Hall thus far (from my cameras, anyway). Taken from Nathan Phillips Square on a chilly Victoria Day holiday Monday night while sightseeing with a couple of visitors and Garry. I took a few film shots with my recently-purchased Chinon CE-4, but I’ll have to finish off the roll before I see the results.

19 May 2008 Shatzi in High Park

Grenadier Pond

I got a chance to spend time with Miss Shatzi again this weekend while my neighbour is out of town, which is a pleasure since Shatzi’s such a well-behaved pooch. She doesn’t stir up other dogs or chase birds and squirrels, which gives my leash hand a break and I can enjoy the park without getting pulled hither and yon.

Miss Shatzi

And of course, who should be waiting to ambush me when I got home:

more…

18 May 2008 Victoria Day Long Weekend, Part I
 |  Category: Toronto, Videoclips  | 2 Comments

The long weekend isn’t over yet, but I have a boatload of pictures already. This will be a quick preview while I go through the memory cards.

First of all, the circus is in town from Saturday to Monday:

Toronto International Circus Festival 2008

Zero Gravity Circus

A couple of short videoclips from this afternoon at the Queen’s Quay Terminal:

more…

17 May 2008 TTC Commuters, Watch This
 |  Category: Urban Life, Videoclips  | 2 Comments

Oshiya, or “pusher”, is an informal Japanese term for a worker who stands on the platform of a railway station during the morning and evening rush hours, and pushes people onto the train. This video is a good example of just how crowded it gets on Japanese trains.

–as seen on my “The Best of YouTube” podcast.

16 May 2008 Seven Nation Army
 |  Category: Toronto  | One Comment

army

I discovered this place while walking last night and went back this morning to take some photos. The light wasn’t that great, so I’ll return when the light’s better and try again.

seven nation army

15 May 2008 Stuck

Two Xena posts in a row! Go Xena!

This is typical Xena: getting herself stuck somewhere and taking five times as long to wriggle her way out. Sometimes I have to assist, but I was curious and amused enough to watch how she would do on her own. By the time I got my camera to shoot this video, she’d already been gingerly stumbling around up there for a couple of minutes, going back and forth across everything.

14 May 2008 Xena Meets A Raccoon

I just spotted a raccoon on the roof outside the window, and Xena jumped up to investigate!

Then Beano jumped up to see what the commotion was about, and I ran out of memory on the card! Arggghhh!!