Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

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It Happened to Me Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Ooh! Free Chicken Legs! [Updated]

While biking eastbound on Dundas Street West to work this morning, I spotted a long line that stretched around the the corner of Dundas West and Rusholme. The reason? Free chicken legs!

Line at O Nosso Talho for free chicken legs

The Portuguese butcher shop/grocery store O Nosso Talho (which Babelfish clumsily translates as “Ours I Cut”) was offering free chicken legs. I’d say that the line was half Portuguese (probably regulars at the store) and half Chinese (“Free chicken? Deal me in!”).

Update: Jamie McQuay pointed out in the comments that the owner of O Nosso Talho won the lottery, and he decided to share the wealth with his customers. For more details, see this Toronto Star article: Butcher wins $14.5M, will share cash, chicken. He’s giving away chicken legs to his customers and the needy.

Line at O Nosso Talho for free chicken legs

Being a fan of the “double leg dinner” myself, I’d have joined the line if I’d had some time to spare.

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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

You Don’t See Bondage Pants Deals Like This Every Day

Seen on Queen Street West yesterday:

Sandwich board on Queen West: “Bondage Pants now $60 - 65″

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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Metronauts!

Metronauts banner

Last year’s TransitCamp — an unconference where both citizens interested in Toronto transit as well as Toronto Transit Commission people could meet and discuss ideas and solutions — was not only a success; it also spawned a number of spin-offs, including similar conferences in San Francisco and Vancouver.

This year, TransitCamp returns under a new name, Metronauts, and in a couple of forms:

  • Metronauts Transit Camp (Saturday, April 5th): Once again, it’s a gathering where you don’t just attend; you also set the agenda and participate actively in the sessions. Unlike last year, this unconference isn’t limited in topic to just Toronto public transit, but all forms of getting around Toronto and surrounding areas. If you travel in and around Toronto, we want your input! Remember, this gathering isn’t about complaints, it’s a brainstorming sessions for ideas that Metrolinx (the body formerly known as the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority) will take into consideration.
  • The Metronauts Site: A site whose purpose to foster discussions about getting around Toronto and surrounding areas, whether by public transit, walking, bicycle, private vehicle and so on.

I’ll be posting about Metronauts from time to time, especially with Metronauts Transit Camp coming up soon. Watch this space!

Additional Reading

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Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Ding Dong: Good Pastries, Unfortunate Name

Ding Dong Pastries and Cafe

The Ginger Ninja and I visited Ding Dong Pastries and Cafe (in Chinatown, at 321 Spadina Avenue, just south of Baldwin) this weekend and were stunned by the prices: most of the single-serving cakes and buns are priced between 60 and 80 cents. We picked up a sesame ball, two tall “paper cup cakes” (sponge cakes baked in a paper cylinder about twice the height of your typical cupcake) and a butter cake loaf, and all they wanted in exchange were $2.50. Wendy liked the sesame ball, the paper cup cakes were light and airy and reminded me of the Filipino cake called mamon and the butter cake loaf was downright delicious. They also have a number of savoury pastries, from the tradition Chinese cha siu bao (in the Philippines, we call them siopao) to spam-and-egg buns to two-bite chicken pies, all selling for under a buck.

Ding Dong seems to reflect the new aesthetic that Asian stores like T&T supermarkets are trying out: they’re actually sweating presentation and appearance and doing a good job of keeping the aisles clean. (I hate to come down on my Asian peeps, but c’mon guys — if we can do calculus and kick ass at Dance Dance Revolution, we can pick up a mop every now and again!) I expect to be a regular customer — in fact, I might grab my lunch from Ding Dong today.

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Music Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Ed Force One!

If you haven’t yet seen these photos from the Iron Maiden Land in Toronto article in BlogTO, you’re in for a treat: here are photos of Ed Force One, the custom-painted Boeing 757 that Iron Maiden are flying about in their world tour, landing here in Accordion City:

Photos of “Ed Force One”, a jet customized with Iron Maiden’s logo and mascot, “Eddie the Head”
Photos by Tom Podolec. Click the photo to see the BlogTO article.

Even more rockin’ than the jet’s design is the fact that Iron Maiden lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson is the pilot! (As is heavy metal singing and piloting weren’t enough, Bruce also has a very good slot on BBC’s 6 Music: Friday Rock Show.)

The name “Ed Force One” comes from the band’s mascot, Eddie the Head, the evil mummified creature who’s been gracing all the Iron Maiden album covers since my grade 5 days when my friend Dean Burzese and I would obsessively study them.

If you missed Iron Maiden’s concert, you can experience the next best thing by rocking out on some Maiden from my childhood — you can play Run to the Hills on Rock Band and Number of the Beast on Guitar Hero 3.

Categories
Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

Funniest Line About Bill Buckley I’ve Heard All Day

The “giant douche” from “South Park” with William F. Buckley’s head

A wag who goes by “monobrau” said: “He was a douchebag, but the current crop of conservatives are colostomy bags.”

Second funniest line: “Gore Vidal Wins!”

Categories
Geek Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

DemoCamp 17 Covered in the National Post

I am extremely pleased with the way DemoCamp 17 went. We had some great demos and Ignite presentations at the Toronto Board of Trade dining room, followed by one of the best post-DemoCamp after-parties at the Duke of Westminster. My thanks to all the attendees, the presenters, Jay Goldman for doing a lot of the heavy lifting and the very kind folks at the Toronto Board of Trade.

Pema Hegan of GigPark sent me a scan from today’s National Post, which appears below:

Article on DemoCamp 17 in the National Post.

I transcribed the article about DemoCamp:

DemoCamp Warms Up to Toronto Tech Crowd

More than 400 people packed the Toronto Board of Trade conference hall on Monday night for DemoCamp, a loosely organized gathering of Web entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and technology enthusiasts.

Startup companies that made an impression on attendees included Kaitlyn McLachlan’s AskItOnline online survey Web site and Alain Chesnais’s SceneCaster 3-D embedded imaging application.

But the real crowd-pleaser of the night had to be WirelessNorth webmaster Tom Purves’ fast-paced Ignite presentation on why the Canadian wireless industry “sucks.”

Although he was preaching to the converted, Mr. Purves spent just over five minutes pointing out the high price of Canadian cellphone service and compared different price plans from around the world. For example, did you know that Rwanda has better cellphone plans than Canada? Or my favourite stat of the night: According to Mr. Purves, one megabyte of wireless data transfer on Rogers’ network costs $50, a measurement not seen since the early 1990s, when relatively minuscule hard drives cost upward of $1000.

For his efforts, Mr. Purves was rewarded with a standing ovation.

Needless to say, Monday’s DemoCamp was the largest turnout in 17 different meetings. With the Toronto Board of Trade firmly on board (no pun intended) with DemoCamp’s main intention — to foster and develop new Canadian tech talent to the global market — there’s a good chance we may see a local success story sooner than later.

Or maybe cheaper cellphone plans. The jury’s still out on which will happen first.

David George-Cosh