Scratch that

Dave shows his scratch built models

While meeting up with Dave for lunch I, being the exploring adventurer (note: this is the politically correct term for 'nosy busy body'), looked around the apartment focusing on the number of scratch build models Dave had built.


Note the detail on the R2 unit

As a person that has loved computer graphics since seeing an asterisk run around a 2001 series PET computer I find it disheartening that well built physical models are becoming a thing of the past. It's a dying art (at least in the movie/TV business) as computer graphics become more real looking, the need for practical models is lessened.


X-wing fighter (uh duh)

For those that don't know, a scratch build model is a model made from scratch. Parts are hand crafted, moulded, sanded and glued to fit together. It's a lot more work than making a model from a kit. There's also more skill required. So when you see a model made from scratch there is a certain amount of awe and appreciation for the person that made the thing, especially if the models look good.


fish and chips N43° 42.378' W79° 21.718'

Getting back to the food. We ended up going to Olde Yorke Fish and Chips restaurant on Laird, south of Eglinton.  I must say this is probably one of the best fish and chips places in all of  Toronto.  The fish is fresh and the batter is not greasy. 

Something to brighten your day (or night)

While walking to a nearby Pho restaurant with Hilary I saw a sign on a tree. Hilary told me the story behind the sign about the poor, old, lady that lived in the house behind the tree had her Christmas lights stolen. Some jogger bought her new lights and this resulted in the thank you sign.

I have a friend Michelle who would be asking for more details as she reads this. It really aggravates her when answers to "Who took the lights in the first place?", "How did the jogger find out the lights were stolen?", "Why did the jogger replace them?", "Were the replacement lights on sale?", all these questions I have no answer to. It makes me a bad reporter or a bad gossip. I laugh because I know Michelle is probably pulling her hair out right now reading this.

Sometimes a story just doesn't have the answers, as in this case. An old lady got her lights ripped off, a jogger got her replacement ones. It's a happy ending. "Michelle, I don't even know if the lady was old. I just threw that in so you'd feel more sorry for her."

I couldn't sell the story as well if I couldn't pull the ole Christmas time heart strings. "The lady was a crack addict that abused the neighborhood cats..." wouldn't get much sympathy and you, the reader, would think the jogger was an idiot (although a kind idiot).

So 'old' lady it is. Perhaps I'll make it my personal goal to ask more questions later.

12 cubed

Curry chicken on rice at Yueh Tong

Being that the date today is the 12th of December, 2012 or as the internet refers to it as 12/12/12 I figured I should go outside and do something crazy awesome to remember this fictionally auspicious occasion.

I ended up finding myself downtown at a 20% off sale at sunrise records. They had some Christmas DVDs on sale. One of them being "It Happened on Fifth avenue". A movie I had just watched. It was jammed in a set of four being sold for $12.

"What? It's not on Blu-ray?", I found myself thinking. I have become a Blu-ray snob and I'm not even that keen on the format. I'm not a fan of the open specs where you can download new settings to your Blu-ray player. It just feels like the people that thought it up didn't put much effort into it. They made a standard and left it open ended so they could install bandage solutions later on. It bugs me like software companies that release software untested and filled with bugs only to address them in the next release, a release you the consumer has to pay for.

I bought the DVD set anyway. 20% off after all and it wasn't even noon yet. It was time to eat. I went over to Yueh Tong. It was 11:30, the place was pretty much empty. I had beat the lunch crowd.

After stuffing myself with a plate of curry chicken on rice I headed back to the apartment to nap. The day of awesomeness was over at least for the time being.

Imagine Nation

A masterpiece of art and distraction

My hours are still pretty messed up. I woke up pretty late and spent the day installing C# on my NetBook. It shouldn't have taken the whole day but a lot of the time was used up looking for a 750 meg CDrom to burn an ISO image to. That led to looking through a few bins of computer stuff which led to reminiscing on objects like the magic 8 ball and derby programs that were stored along with random cables and installation disks.

At 18:30 I got an invite to meet for dinner with William and Irmena.

As with any friends that have kids I have found that you spend a lot of time talking and interacting with the kids. Equal to or more so than the amount of time you get to talk to your friends. Especially if the kids are brought up to be social. My parents probably loved me as a child, I stayed in my room programming my apple ][+ and didn't really like talking to people because I was "shy". William and Irmena's children would be classified and social or to a single person 'high maintenance', at least from an interacting point of view.

The main course was a tasty Beef stew and after dinner that's when the barrage of the kids began. Asha grilled me with music flash cards and Finn showed off his drawing talents in a sketch book, a large sketch book. I noticed the parents had magically disappeared and I was stuck with the offspring.

Actually kids take up a lot of energy, a lot of energy. If you're a parent you probably know this. Also as a parent after having the first child you're probably already good at keeping the kids occupied so they don't completely drive you nuts. I am completely enamoured with people that have these skills. I think there should be a book on this for single people, people like me.

One of the techniques is to invite friends that are single to come hang out with you. Entice them to dinner. The more yummy the dinner the better. Then, when they are filled with food and the blood from their brain is being used to digest said food, when their state is between lethargic and fast asleep that's when you release the kids.

As a tactful friend it is impolite to tell the kids "go away" for no reason plus just having eaten your friends out of house and home there's a tinge of guilt that makes you want to interact with the kids a little. Get and little, give a little and all that.

Tonight I figured out that if you ask a kid to draw something that will distract said child from interacting with you, freeing you up to talk to the parents (if they are around). Also never request something simple (eg. Draw a pig). You want something that will suck up as much time as possible before the child has to go to bed. It's not a coincidence that kids are told to go to bed early (8pm). It gives parents a few hours to themselves to collect their wits. Drawing a pig would take no time at all. You need something that will take time and something you can add on to if the child you're requesting this from is lazy.

It is better to request of the child to draw some kind of scene. (eg. Draw a giant caterpillar attacking a city). Not only does this take longer to draw something this epic but it allows the child to explore their creative side. They get to draw the animal but it's also up to them as to how the animal will interact with the city. Stomping, laser eyes, lighting bolts from antennae, chomping, releasing a deadly virus? They might even add tanks, police cars, ambulances, and screaming victims if you're lucky.

The results are pretty great. It's a win-win. The kid creates a masterpiece and likes you because you're impressed (look impressed and say things like "Good Job!"), you get to talk to the parents, the parents also get to talk to someone more grown up than the kids. Okay scratch the last point. They get the privilege of feeding you.

Looper

James on subway after seeing Looper

I finally got to see Looper. I was half surprised it was still in the theatres. I recall seeing it listed in the rep cinemas, the theatres where the admission is less expensive and the seats are generally more lumpy. The nice thing about the rep cinema is that it has a living room like quality. Perhaps from being independently owned.

My review of Looper without spoiling the story is that it was a good solid story. No plot holes, no characters acting dumb (or out of character), good acting. Also and most importantly at this time and age of movies for stupid people. The trailer doesn't give away the best parts of the movie but shows you enough to want to see it.

It was no Lawrence of Arabia but after seeing the last Bond movie Skyfall it was quite an improvement. I am perplexed at why Skyfall has been getting such great reviews. Did the reviewers only watch the first 10 minutes of the movie? How can it be the "Best Bond ever"? While it had a great concept for a movie after the opening credit sequence it just start falling apart. Was this a comment that was made by the asshats at Time magazine that thought Cloud Atlas was the worst movie in all of 2012? 2012, The same year that released Piranha 3DD? Who are these critics? Stupid jerks.

I don't know why this gets me all worked up.

Choose your own Adventure

Birthday Girl, Hilary

My friend Hilary hosted a boozy birthday party for herself featuring drinking and mingling. As history would point out booze and people always make for an interesting evening and there was a lot of both. From a Burnt Zombie to a mixed Stalin, there were a bunch of drinks you could create. What made this party unique was a computer program to help choose the drink for you. The drink selection was presented in a Choose hour own Adventure format. A story on a laptop started you off in front of Toronto's Union station. As you read through the story you would be presented with options on what you could do (ie. head to the visible hot dog stand). Eventually your story would come to a conclusion and with it a drink.

My adventure took me to a hot dog stand ordering a hot dog and waiting for change only to be attacked by zombies. My drink? A Burnt Zombie of course. From the laptop story station I would then go to the nearby booze table with an assortment of various spirits and a convenient book on how to mix your drinks.


Assortment of Booze

There is a lot of rum in a zombie with a bit of pineapple juice. I mistakenly poured lime juice into my glass of rum instead of pineapple juice with a result that tasted like, what I imagined to be, battery acid.

Another concoction I had was cranberry with vodka, vodka with fluffed marshmallow flavor. The bitter sweet taste the artificial mechanical substance when down better than the battery acid but was, to lack a better description, weird tasting.

The small apartment with a narrow submarine like hallway connecting the living room to the kitchen as filled with a bunch of Hilary's friends. It was a fun night and lasted until just after 4am. 4am for me at least. There were still others lingering around.

It happened on 5th avenue

Emmanuel at Swatow

So today I went to see a viewing of "It happened on Fifth avenue" at a church on Bloor. It was a screening room on the third floor which resembled more of a living room with six or seven couches. It fact it felt like being in a living room once I sat down and was half absorbed by the lush cushions.

Churches and religious buildings in general make me uncomfortable. Perhaps this stems from going to church with my grandmother when I was a kid. "Sit still and be quiet." It might have been from getting lured into seeing movies at the Christian Fellowship during high school or maybe it was going to Sunday morning classes. Maybe it was witnessing my friend Les covert to being a Mormon to chase after a girl.

In a church I suppose I feel like someone is going to jump out from behind a curtain or spring from a wall to "change my life for the better", to "save my soul", to bible thump me into oblivion. It's like being faced with sales staff at future shop and being offered the extended warranty.

At least with future shop you know why they're offering you the warranty, it's to make more money. When someone offers you religion it could be that they want what's best for you but chances are they want to make themselves feel better for making your life better. If you look at Mormons, they actually go out on missions in pairs to convert people.

So despite the comfy couch filled environment I was in a church surrounded by church goers. I was there to see the movie. It was a Christmas story about a homeless guy squatting in a house and sharing it with others that needed a home for Christmas. It was compared to "It's a wonderful life" as no man (or woman) is poor if they have friends. It was the first time I heard of the film and in the end was glad I saw it. Being that it's near Christmas I love watching that sappy stuff.

The Tooth Filling

The tooth filling

So I'm lying in bed reading when "Plop" a piece of metal falls out of my mouth. What the heck?  It was a bit of a surprise.  Usually fillings fall out while I'm eating something.  This just happened.  The last time this happened was a year ago while in Boston.

The good news is that the filling picked a great time to fall out.  I've been out of the country quite a bit this year and the filling could have fallen out while on a gig halfway around the world.  Even though I might have been covered with medical insurance having to go to a dentist while travelling would have been an annoyance.  Taking the time away from work/vacationing, finding a dentist using English in a non-English speaking country, not being able to eat food until the tooth was repaired.  The later being probably the most horrendous of them all.  Not being able to eat foreign food.  The thought makes me shudder.

With the tooth falling out while in Toronto I have the luxury of visiting my dentist, the one that's worked on my teeth for years.  Having a consistent person, someone with X-rays of your jaws, puts one at ease.  Why wouldn't it?

Dim sum with Colin

It's Saturday. It's the first of December.  Went to the under ground restaurant, The New Treasure, for dim sum with Colin.  I really should do this kind of thing more often.  Catching up with friends that is.  Eating food is good and the list of people I'd like to catch up with is enormous.  I could see myself getting fat and poor financially by undertaking something as grand as this.

The trouble is a lot of my friends are married and/or live far away.  Adding to the fact that people are working whittles the available time to meet to weekends and even those are filled up if there are kids in the equation.

Maybe I need new friends that are single and live closer.  Ha ha.

Chestnuts roasting on an oven fire

Roasted chestnut

So you've heard the song that starts off "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." and maybe you're even  fortunate enough to live in a city that has a vendor that sells roasted chestnuts (like Boston, MA) but if you don't and you want to try sampling them yourself then this blog entry is for you.

First getting the chestnuts.

When shopping for chestnuts look to make sure they are not brittle.  Chestnuts that are brittle usually mean they've been sitting on the shelf a little too long.  The moisture that was in them has all dried up.  Buying chestnuts of this quality will result in a hardened, possibly blackened, inside turd and will definitely make you think that eating chestnuts is a sham if it's your first try.

If you squeeze the chestnut (at the store) and it breaks then it's brittle and really old.  You can also tell by the sheen on the chestnut.  As the chestnut ages it will get more dull looking.  As a novice chestnut eater you may not notice anything but over time this will become more apparent.

Ingredients
chestnuts (as many as you would like)

Directions

1. preheat oven to 350° F
2. cut each chestnut so there's a score that breaks the outer shell (this will prevent the chestnut from exploding while cooking) Also if you make an X it'll make breaking the shell easier after it's cooked.
3. place the chestnuts on a cooking sheet and place in oven.
4. cook for 50 minutes

Results
After cooking the shell should be brittle and should be able to crack easily simply by squeezing the chestnut.  You might want to wear oven mitts if the chestnut is fresh out of the oven as it will be hot (duh).  The shell may or may not come off easily but it should be brittle.

eat the yummy insides.


Additional notes:
There is a chestnut cutter that exists.  It makes it easier to cut the chestnuts and is great if you want to reduce the risk of cutting yourself with a knife.  I'm not talking about that old barbaric hooked blade that old italian ladies use, I'm talking about the scissor like blade on one side, chestnut scoop on the other.


Chestnut Cutter

You can buy this plastic one here (http://www.myitaliancantina.com/collections/frontpage/products/snips-chestnut-cutter).

There's a more impressive looking one here (http://www.chestnutter.com/). If you buy one tell them Bagelhot sent you, not because they know who I am or that you'll get a discount, but just because it'll make me laugh to think of these confused people wondering who Bagelhot is.  If you make a good product I'll endorse it (especially food gadgets).

Trivia:
chestnuts are gluten free.


I would like to thank Mike Zanette for passing on this information and for introducing me to eating these things way back in the Walmer apartment days.  I can still picture him burning his figures because he couldn't wait for the chestnuts to cool down once he took them out of the oven, hence the inclusion to this blog entry of the tip on using of oven mitts.