Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I just got a nice comment on Flickr regarding a shot I took at my local park a few days ago in the fog. The comment from Jimbographer was "Like the colors, reminds me of Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind." And guess what, just before bed last night, I browsed the program guide a little in case there was a movie I wanted to record and found one of my favourites - Close Encounters of the Third Kind was plying on HDNet. Really looking forward to watching it now !

Canada Malting Co

I dropped off a few colleagues at Toronto's Island Airport (now called the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) and we passed by the old Canada Malting Co. structure on Toronto's waterfront.  We wondered what they malted ?  Turns out malt is actually a processed grain product and could be used in a number of different end products.

When I got home I caught up on a few blogs and personal items and was pleased to see today's photo on one of my favourite photo blogs - Daily Dose of Imagery.

Carcassonne

I played a few games of Carcassonne with the family on the weekend.  I was in the Apple store at lunch today and picked up the new iPhone4.  I paged over a few pages and accidentally touched an app without noticing what app icon my finger was on and Carcassonne opened up. What a surprise, I didn't even know there was a Carcassonne Apple app.  Of course, I had to play for a few minutes.  Love the game and now available as an app for you iPhone and iTouch, with iPad to come (which we'll be really nice with the larger screen).

Betty Davis Eyes

My wife and I went to see Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) play a solo gig last week and one of the tracks he played was the classic Kim Carnes' hit Betty Davis Eyes.  I hadn't herd that great song in a very long time, and then I heard it again on the car radio this morning.  I just went out to run another errand and heard the same original version being played at St. Louis Wings on their outdoor patio speakers.  I ran my errand, and as I'm returning back to my car, the same restaurant is now paying The Killers' big it Sombody Told me.

Shad and Champion

We went to Shad's concert at The Opera House last night.  I haven't been to many hip-hop or rap shows and I wasn't sure what the crowd was like.  I decided to wear my Champion t-shirt for the occasion thinking it gave me a little street cred, although electronica is still a musical departure away from Shad's hip-hop style.

Today, I was having some trouble trying to find the setlist from last night (so I can fill in some of gaps in myShad downloads), when I came across a CBC Radio 3 podcast - Shad and Champion playing last year's Transmission Festival in Victoria !  Never suspected they'd played on the same bill before.

Ryan

Ryan - coincidence, originally uploaded by PJMixer.

I was downtown checking out some of the exhibits for the Contact Photography festival when a noticed this striking bright red truck on Ossington Avenue. I took a few shots, one of which included a brightly dressed passerby. After taking the shots, I continued my walk up Ossington and noticed some beautiful and colourful art work at AWOL Gallery. Upon closer examination, I noticed the piece was made up of mousetraps. I went into the gallery and met Agata Ostrowska who told me all about Ryan Barrett and his latest project, Fire Trap. Ryan returned from getting a coffee and we spent almost an hour talking about the project and art in general.

When I checked my photographs when I got home, I noticed Ryan was the stranger I captured in this earlier photo.

Click here for the full story and more photos from my visit to AWOL Gallery.

Centaurs

I asked my son to describe Lady Gaga's set on American Idol tonight.  He came up with the creative "centaury" which kind of surprised my wife who wasn't in tune with his new fantasy fiction vocabulary.

Later in the show, Harry Connick Jr. (one of my all time favourite singers), said he would prefer being a centaur rather than a mentor.  Maybe he saw Lady Gaga's rehearsal, but that's a unusual descriptive coincidence regardless.