Alerted by a vague metallic clicking sound when I walked, I found this in my shoe:

Yes, some deft urban angler had managed to snag me with a two-inch-long fishing hook. Here’s what it looks like sans footwear:

This confirms something I have thought for a long time: I would make a terrible trout. As if the whole “can only breathe air” thing wasn’t bad enough, it looks like I have a talent for accidentally snaring myself on discarded fishing tackle.

Which raises an interesting point: why was there a two-inch-long fish hook lying on the streets of Toronto? Some experimental aquacultre gone wrong? Some hardcore S&M gone even worse? If this is the result of some misguided amateur angler, I will say this: you’re doing it wrong. Roncesvalles, while sporting several nice restaurants, has terrible fishing.

And by brother, I mean priest.

Friar Cesare Bonizzi , 62 years young, is the hardest rockin’ man o’ god in the world. Describing himself as a ‘preacher-singer’, he kicks out the heavy metal jams at the head of his band, Fratello Metallo (Metal Brother). Here he is in action:

Hardcore. And he’s refreshingly laid back about the whole ‘god’ thing:

“I am religious and I am a priest but I am not doing this to convert people to Christ, to faith or the Church, but for them to try to understand life, to be able to enjoy it. Nothing more.”

Although, I can’t help but think I might be more religious (or indeed, Catholic) if all priests were this badass.

Pretty neat footage from the NASA EPOXI spacecraft. A never-before-seen view of the moon passing the Earth, from 31 million miles away.

Oddly beautiful. Via Gizmodo.

How awesome does the new Watchmen movie look? So I awesome I will even tolerate the Billy Corgan-ness of the trailer

And why does it look awesome? Because it looks exactly like the graphic novel. Which is also awesome. Simple math.

Photo: Kate Unrau, Jason O'Brien, Jason Chesworth and Jackie English go country.

This article is cross posted with blogTO.

Well, another Fringe Festival has come and gone. But like every year, there are a few shows that will go on to bigger things. In 1999, there was the Drowsy Chaperone. In 2002, Job: The Hip Hop Musical got all the buzz. Last year gave us the Gladstone Variations and An Inconvenient Musical.

And in 2008, we have The Christian Republican Fundraiser in Dayton Tennessee. I reviewed this show during the Fringe and loved it. But since Christian Republican Fundraiser is playing next week as part of Diesel Playhouse‘s “Best of the Fringe”, I thought I’d tell you a bit more about what makes this show so good. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m grouchy this morning- my bike got a flat tire and some ignorant $#%& parked me into my garage- so I’m going to vent a little on the TTC. Sorry, but when I’m having a bad morning (which usually involves me having to ride the subway), our abysmal transit system just ticks me right off.

Today’s rankle? The plan to phase out single-ride tickets this fall. Lame! Apparently, it’s an attempt to curb counterfeiting, which costs the TTC much cash. But I can’t help but think this is the wrong way to go about it.

Here’s why I like tickets: they are made of paper, so I can put them in my wallet. I don’t take transit enough to justify buying a metropass. I’m also a dude, so I don’t carry a change purse I can put tokens in. By taking away tickets, the TTC just gives me another reason not to ride the alleged ‘rocket’.

This whole thing illustrates the rot at the heart of the TTC. Sure, counterfeiting is a big problem. But the solution is not to make the system more inconvenient than it already is. Would it not make more sense to introduce an electronic fare card system like every other decent transit system in the world? Then people could buy there passes, or just pre-pay as necessary. No counterfeiting, plus it’s easy and convenient for riders. As an added bonus, e-cards could eliminate crotchety ticket agents whose only functions appear to be slowly counting out change and giving me the hairy eyeball for no particular reason.

But of course, the TTC won’t institute fare cards. It will stumble along, sucking the life out of this city until it finally collapses under its own ponderous weight. In the meantime, I’ll be on my bike. Once I get a new inner tube, that is.

We all know Zimbabwe has a lot of problems. Its economy is in shambles, it’s run by a corrupt, violent lunatic, and draconian ‘no proper noun’ rules prevent it from taking its rightful place as a totally ninja Scrabble move (26 points…get that on a triple word and you’re off to the races).

But now, amidst all that woe, add another: Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is now 2,200,000 per cent. That’s 2.2 million per cent. In Canada had a similar rate, a loaf of bread you bought today for $3 would cost $6.6 million in one year’s time. As it is, the cost of a single loaf is about 1/3 the salary of the monthly salary for a Zimbabwean teacher. And they have to carry their money around in wheelbarrows.

How do you spell failed state? Z…i…m…b…..