September 3rd, 2007 - My Day in Toronto

I woke up around 10:30ish to a bright glow. That sounds like such a pleasant way to wake up, except for the fact that the glow wasn't coming from the morning sun, but from my arms.

Looking like a lobster. Call me Zoidberg.

It looks worse than it felt. Unless someone touched it, then it lit me up good.

I used my wake up time to sit on the bed for a while and catch up on some MuchMusic. It doesn't take much viewing time to remind me how limited mainstream music is in the States. First off, Canada's music channel plays music videos. Second, the videos they play have variety in both visual and music style. The artists aren't all cookie cutter versions of each other. In just a few minutes of watching, I saw performers of all shapes and sizes, even one wheelchair-bound singer. Sure, they still showed the big names, Maroon 5, Kelly Clarkson, but they were mixed in with tons of different stuff. It was refreshing to be exposed to some new music.

Shifting to my chair, I was surprised when I looked out from our 30th floor window and saw someone across the street. And higher. It made me wonder how one becomes a skyscraper window washer and if you ever get used to hanging on that little wire so high above the ground.

Washing windows


Up above


Sarrrrsgaarrrrrd!

We eventually headed for the sidewalks to roam around and see Toronto. Yonge Street was the road we stuck to for most of the day. The buildings blocked out the midday sun (thankfully) as I cruised through the city. Somewhere near, a church bell chimed 1:00.

Rollin' along


Freddie Mercury statue outside the Canon Theatre


Gwen wanted a picture

We stopped at the Eaton Centre and explored for a while. A four story mall, hundreds of stores, each floor with its own food court with everything from Arby's to sushi. It made our mall look like the corner store.

Inside the Eaton Centre


The Wii Smart Car

Being Labor Day, the last day before the school year starts, the mall was extra crowded and the shoppers actually resembled the traffic on the street. I eventually found the flow and I was set.

While heading to the big HMV store on the next block, the streets were filled with music as there looked to be some sort of festival going on. There was even one of those silver-skinned street performers doing his thing for a bunch of onlookers. There was so much to take in, it was great.

Wandering the HMV store was a music lover's dream. Three floors of music and movies. I could have gotten lost in there for hours and easily spend a fortune. Though I don't have a fortune, I still ended up buying more than I should have.

Back on the street, I was getting a handle on sidewalk strategy. Learning when to pass crowds, the best way to hop the streetcar rails in my chair, I was into it. By the end of our stay, I was loving the crosswalk experience.

I'm easily amused.

We stopped back at the room to take a little breather and drop off my haul.

Jacob's Haul

CDs

• Help! A Day in the Life
• Peace Songs
• Hayley Sales Sunseed

DVDs

• TMNT
• Serenity: Collector's Edition

Next destination? The CN Tower.

With dusk approaching, we moved briskly in hopes of arriving before dark. Our walk took us to a major memory spot as we passed the Air Canada Centre, where I met The Corrs in 2004.

We ended up arriving along with the dark after missing the street we needed.

Monkey

Looking up from the base of the CN Tower was definitely a "wow" moment where you suddenly feel very, very small.

Staring out the elevator's window as we ascended was incredible. Within seconds, the buildings you were just staring up at, you're now staring down at.

I approached one of the many windows in the observation area and had the ultimate "wow" moment. Toronto was now a massive sea of twinkling lights, literally stretching out farther than the eye could see. It was breathtaking.

Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw a helicopter fly past.

The outdoor observation area was insane because of the force of the wind at that altitude. For an Ohio boy who spends most of his time looking up at everyone, it was quite a sensation to feel the winds at the top of the world.

Back inside was a section of glass floor where you could stand and look down at the street and the Rogers Centre a thousand feet below.

Possibly the most amazing part of it all was that Mom actually came up there. She did great and I hope she enjoyed it.

As we lowered back to street level, the elevator operator told us that we were descending at roughly fifteen miles per hour, the same speed as an open military parachute. For some reason, it was much more bizarre to see the buildings coming up at us than it was to see them shrink below.

Once back on terra firma, we marched back to Yonge Street and stopped in a McDonald's for dinner. The day was fantastic, but non-stop, I found myself in need of some down time and quiet, so I ended up bagging the remainder of my burger and finishing it back in the room.

I unwound by checking email while looking out at the city lights spread out before me. At midnight, Mom snuck up from behind to surprise me with a little foil balloon as it was now my birthday.

We finished up the bottle from Jackson-Triggs and crashed, bringing an end to our last night in Toronto.

A Day of Many Returns

It was considerably chillier than it was supposed to be today, so I had to bundle up a bit more than I wanted to while running errands with Mom.

As I was getting out of the van at WalMart, I heard a voice say "Jacob?" It turned out to be my old friend, Jackie, who I haven't seen in probably about 7 years. We caught up with each other a little in the parking lot. She seems to be doing quite well for herself, working a good job downtown and recently engaged. It was a nice surprise bumping into her.

I'm wondering if a bus full of people I haven't seen in ages recently pulled into town and unloaded, as that's the second random bump-into this week.

After there, Mom and I had a quick bite at Schlotzsky's and headed to the movie theater to behold the anticipated return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or, as they're now more hiply called, TMNT.

When I first heard the movie was going to be completely CGI, I was honestly a bit miffed.
When I saw the first trailer, I was a bit more optimistic.
When more clips were revealed over the last few weeks, I got excited.
When I saw the movie tonight, I felt a childhood enthusiasm return.

It was just excellent. Though the villain plot was lacking a bit, the theme of family was outstanding, the action scenes were truly impressive, and the CGI was done nicely and surprisingly beautiful at times. The best (spoiler free) scene in the movie is when tensions reach a boiling point and two brothers battle it out, it was executed perfectly.

I really loved the movie and look forward to seeing it again.

Almost as fun as watching the movie, was watching the audience arrive. It seemed funny seeing so many people over twenty showing up for a PG animated film, but it was the original Turtles Generation reuniting after all these years. Even cooler was seeing members of that generation bringing their kids with them.

After the movie, I kicked back and visited with Corey, who's back in town for the weekend. We just chit chatted a bit and talked about his new dog, Wizard. It was nice.

Tomorrow night? Game night.

Tonight, We Dine in Terabithia! Cowabunga!

Things have been pretty quiet 'round here. Not boring, just quiet.

Seeing 300 with Jeff was postponed that day, so Mom and I went and saw Bridge to Terabithia that night instead. I've never read the book, so I wasn't exactly what to expect. It was really cheesy and very Disney for the first hour or so, then it took a turn and got heavy really quickly. Surprisingly heavy for a movie that's being marketed for a very young audience.
In the end, the cheese at the beginning actually seemed to help the later drama make more of an impact. The more I thought about it afterward, the more I liked it.

I ended up finally seeing 300 with Jeff that Monday. I definitely enjoyed it. Sure, it's not the greatest movie ever made, but I had a lot of fun watching it. It's a visual explosion and excellent for those times when you just want to watch a good action movie.

I've been doing some work on The Girl and the Ghost, mainly establishing the visual style it'll have, seeing what works and what doesn't. So far, I think it's looking rather sweet.

Speaking of looking sweet, Bullcrank.com has been revamped with a shiny new design. Go take a look and don't forget to breathe in that new website smell.

St Patrick's Day was pretty low key, but nice. I had a potato and some Guinness, then Mikey came over to play some video games and I introduced him to Firefly. Much to my surprise, the video leprechauns over at iFilm featured Sex Love and Honey yet again on St Patty's Day. Featured twice in ten days? Excellent!

We got an early taste of summer last Tuesday when it hit 75 degrees. I took advantage of it by driving around and running errands with Mom and Granny. It felt so nice being able to drive with the windows down. Of course, it snowed over the weekend.
It's supposed to warm up again into the 60's towards the end of the week. I'm really looking forward to it. That and the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Can't wait.