Shopping Carts in Ravines

not to mention

Just now, wearing only plastic trackpants and an old T-shirt, I threw my boots on and went outside to put something in the green bin for pick up tomorrow. The weather was so nice (Toronto, Canada, December 29th, 6˚ Celsius) that I decided to go for a stroll around the block.

I walked down to the bus stop on the off chance that Sa and her friend would be pulling up, but they weren’t, so I walked a few blocks down Lawrence and then came back around.

Either I’m the most Canadian person in the country, or climate change is still a relevant issue this year, despite having (barely, since the dump was mostly melted) the first white Christmas in years. Here in Toronto, our weather’s starting to feel like Victoria’s.

It was a very invigorating walk. It was hardly a walk by my standards, I take some pretty serious walks sometimes, but it was definitely refreshing. I was not only enjoying it, I was snapping a beat on my fingers and dancing along the sidewalk for part of it.

I guess I sort of have a bit of some wanderer’s soul in me… quelled somewhat by an overabundance of what a beautiful thing it is to have a loving home.

An excellent combination.

Me and Sa were playing the ’90s version of Trivial Pursuit the other day. I’ve had it for a while, got it at a garage sale, but hadn’t played it before.

The game pieces are Kurt Cobain, a latte in a mug, a PDA and a dot-com stock certificate. The question categories are also different from standard Trivial Pursuit:

“Important” - News, Headlines, Milestones
“Viewing” - Sitcoms, Videos, Movies
“Hanging” - Sports, Concerts, Hobbies
“Wired” - Internet, Gadgets, Technology
“Trends” - Fads, Fashions, Slang
“Oops” - Mishaps, Mistakes, Divorces

A few rolls in, and having no experience with the content of the question cards, I landed on my first “Important” square.

I looked at the description of “Important” (News/Headlines/Milestones) and immediately said “Ohhh god, this had better not be about OJ Simpson!”

Question: Whose parents won $21 million in a wrongful death suit from a man worth only $3 million?

Answer: Ron Goldman.

The Wal-Mart at Keele and Lawrence shopping cart post is one of my most consistently-viewed entries, as it ranks #1 on Google and #2 on Yellowpages.ca when people search for it. (My stat counter even registered hits for that page for the days my site was down because of people clicking through to Google’s cached copy.)

In light of this, I decided to add a bunch of text to it about Wal-Mart, as it was previously just the photo. I know it’s a little vicious, I already re-wrote it once but I’m not sure how to totally avoid the venom. I always try to relate to people when trying to sway them from a deeply-engrained position that seems to me to be as wretched as that, but honestly I don’t know how to be nice when it comes to Wal-Mart obsession, so I figured it was better than nothing to just slam them with information about the reality of what a Wal-Mart purchase means and hope they don’t just pile denial or “Bah humbug!”s on top of their ignorance/thoughtlessness.

Suggestions on making it politely convincing are quite welcome, as are suggestions on sources of alternative gifts for the list.

Well, had some downtime there, so this post is slightly out of date now that the exhibit has closed… but oh well.

I was delivering flyers for The Power Plant (the art gallery) to various galleries and cafes and whatnot around town, which was pretty cool because I got a chance to check out all the little independent galleries around West Queen West.

One of these galleries is Mercer Union on Lisgar St. I’d been in only once before, during Nuit Blanche of this year, but this time I encountered something I was already familiar with but totally I hadn’t been expecting:

On display was Michel de Broin’s “Shared Propulsion Car.”

The thing is, this “car” is actually totally stripped down inside (the engine is gone, which is apparent from a quick glance through the window) and the seats have been replaced with four chairs, each with bicycle pedals, to create something between a four-person bike and a Flintstones car. In fact, the “headlights” glowing in that first photo actually have tealight candles burning away in them, as the car has no source of power.

I’d previously heard about this piece on blogTO when it was taken for a four-person test “drive” that resulted in a $500 fine which has turned into an upcoming trial.

I believe the woman working at the gallery said a court date of April 8th was set, and they and their legal counsel feel confident that the court will rule in their favour - i.e. that this is not a car and not subject to laws pertaining to automobiles, but rather that it is a decorated bicycle and just as legal for road use as much larger multi-person bikes.

lol

These double-ad garbage/recycling bins are ubiquitous in Toronto, and in the lead-up to Buy Nothing Day 2007 an advertisement was switched out for a BND poster.

The poster originally included the Nov 23rd date, but this photo was taken a couple days after BND and someone had decided to wipe the date off once it had passed, leaving the rest intact.