There’s an Accordion City Joel on Software group forming. I’ve joined because I hang out and chat with geeks not only for fun — it’s my job!
You know you want to join. Be one on the cool kids. Join ussss….it’s blissss…
Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)
Today is the day of the mayoral election here in Accordion City. If you’re eligible, make sure you vote today!
If you’re still undecided, one place online you might want to check out is Rick McGinnis’ excellent election blog, Last Chance City.
(If you really must know, David Miller’s getting my vote.)
There are still tickets for tonight’s Q&A session at The Music Hall with Neal Stephenson, author of geek must-reads such as Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon and his latest, Quicksilver. The Q&A is part of a reading series called “This is not a Reading Series”, which is organized by Pages, one of Accordion City’s best independent bookstores. It will be hosted by my friend Mark Askwith, producer for Space (Canada’s science fiction/fantasy/Roddenberry channel) and attended by yours truly.
Tickets are $5 in advance / $6 at the door. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and the fun starts at 6:30.
Tonight: Kickass Karaoke at the Bovine Sex Club. The fun usually starts aroound ten-ish. Those who like to prepare ahead can check out the entire list of Kickass Karaoke songs (122K text list).
Tomorrow night: Neal Stephenson speaks at The Music Hall in a Pages Bookstore “This is Not a Reading Series” series event.
Friday night: White Cowbell Oklahoma, trashabilly rockers extraordinaire, perform at Lee’s Palace.
I first met Flyerman back in May at one of the early editions of Kickass Karaoke at The Rivoli. I ran into him this weekend on the dance floor at Velvet Underground and took this video (615K QuickTime) of him dancing with his famous suit.
Every discount T-shirt dealer here in Accordion City is stocking some variant of the T-shirt below:
Like I’ve said before: when life gives you SARS, make sarsaparilla.
If the film shoots here in Accordion City are going to be any indication, the sequel to Resident Evil is going to be incredibly over-the-top.
Last week, they closed the Don Valley Parkway intermittently so that they could shoot a helicopter chase scene.
Last night, while running to the store for snacks, we noticed that New City Hall was all aglow. Being the curious sort, we walked over there — a mere ten minutes from my house — to find the buildings bathed in the light emitted by some extremely powerful spotlights. As we walked closer, we noticed an stuntperson in a harness scaling the wall of the west tower. She was suspended from her back and facing downwards. A few moments later, the director yelled action, and the stuntperson ran headfirst down the wall. It was amazing to watch, and I kicked myself for not having my camera with me. Murphy’s Law of Cameras — there’s never one when you need it — had bitten me again.
Someone nearby told us that the stuntperson was in fact Milla Jovovich, who’s had a fair bir of training in “wirework” and likes doing some of her own stunts. There were a number of close-up shots for this scene, so it was necessary for her to do at least some of the stunt work. The budget for the film, he told us, was US$42 million, $30 million of which would be spent here in Canada. Many blockbuster films are filmed in Toronto, but the well ran dry with the SARS scare. He speculated that this film is supposed to help bring Hollywood movie crews back, but it may be tricky, what with SARS paranoia and Hollywood believing that America’s exclusive right to be a movie location was handed down to them by God (it’s the “Free Market” you guys cherish so much — it cuts both ways).
The guy also remarked on the fact that this new Resident Evil movie was yet another zombie film in a wave of horror flicks, and we both noted that the last big horror wave was also when America was undergoing paranoid fits — terrorism now, and the red scare back then.
With any luck, Milla and her filmmates (including host Carson’s brother, Zack Ward) will unwind again at tomorrow night’s Kickass Karaoke.