The weekend was eventful…on Friday did Capture the Flag, went drinking in Koreatown with the buddies and then met up with a coworker and hit a bar to cap it all off. On Saturday, re-injured my back then did Nuit Blanche till 5am — my favourite was Ballroom Dancing, I went twice!

Now it’s Sunday. I’m recovering, haven’t done a single thing and I’m getting reflective.

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Ever look at an old pic of yourself, look into your own eyes and ask yourself what the hell happened? How did I get where I am? Have I done anything with myself of worthy note? I’ve heard from a few people that my gaze was piercing. I wish I could look inside myself a bit better.

FilmFest Mania

I was walking out of the Ryerson gym last Thursday evening at about 10:30, and there was a line outside the Ryerson Theatre stretching down about 1/3 of the block. I had never seen a rush line for a Film Festival screening that long before. Later on I found it is was the screening for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan at midnight. Sacha Cohen apparently arrived as Borat. I would have lined up if I knew!

Saturday I went to check out 2 films, Adrian Grenier’s Shot in the Dark and a Korean film called Family Ties. The first film was made before Grenier became famous in HBO’s Entourage, and is about his journey to reconnect with his biological father. It’s gives the audience a chance to see a very vulnerable Grenier and his reconnection with his long-lost father. It’s very surprising to see how similar they are, even though they hadn’t seen each other in 18 years. And yes ladies, he was there after the screening to answer questions.

The second film was also very good, showing us how members of various dysfunctional families can come together to form their very own new family. It was filled with anger and resentment and you could feel it in your chest throughout the viewing, yet it was touching at the same time.

Starlet

Had a pretty eventful weekend including going to bubblebattle on Sunday, but it was a distinctly jazz-themed one. On Saturday we headed to the Reservoir Lounge to see Tory Cassis play as part of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival. He was kind of a last resort as I was hankering for a female vocalist. Imagine my delight when he didn’t show, and Sophia Perlman and the Vipers turned up instead. At first we thought she worked there and was helping the band set up, since she looked so young and unassuming. When she started singing however, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. This young lady has a sultry, husky voice, and her stage presence is fun, charming and natural. We stayed for all 3 sets.

On Monday, we went to see Dave Brubeck, the legendary pianist. In his mid-eighties by now, he was funny and energetic; we had a great time. The quartet played a great rendition of Take Five, and for his solo encore he made the audience crack up by playing Brahm’s Lullaby. Thanks for getting the tickets Grace!

Afterwards we headed back to the Reservoir Lounge as it was still early and it was Sophia’s regular night. Her birthday was midnight, and a gaggle of guest musicians came in and played. It was very cool seeing so many musicians cycle on and off and jam together so easily. There were some guest singers, and even though he didn’t perform (at least not while we were there), Matt Dusk was in attendance. I think this girl is going to be big, and it’s a pleasure to watch as it happens.

Busy weekend

I went to the NBA 3 on 3 tournament in London this past weekend. Originally we had 4 guys heading up, but the last guy bailed on us the day before. We were put into the 6’1″+, over 30 division (my teammates are on the wrong side of 30, but they’re black so they’re still more athletic than me). Out of the 3 of us left, only Brian was over 6’1″, and he was only 6’2″. My friend Ray was 5’11” tops and I’m a scrawny 5’9″. So we went in both short and shorthanded.

Despite the fact that other teams were licking their chops at their first glance at us (one guy actually said to me, “What are you, 12?!”), we made it to the finals easily enough. Even though they were bigger they were either too slow, too old, or just plain didn’t know how to play. The team we met in the finals was a different story though. They knew how to play, they were in shape and they did what any smart team would do: go at the smallest guy on the court. In the end it wasn’t much of a contest, and we could only wonder what would have happened if that other guy didn’t bail. Oh well, we still got silver medals and I have to say they don’t look as tacky as the gold ones.

I got back to Toronto at about 4pm on Sunday, right at the tail end of the gay parade. I live smack dab in between the 2 streets the parade route was going through, and despite my pleas and showing to them I indeed lived where I said I did, the police would not let me through. They did let the streetcars through however, which is totally unfair. It took me good half hour to find parking, and I had to walk through a mob of people just to get home. I didn’t even get to see the parade, so I was absolutely fuming about the whole thing.

The weekend ended on a better note however. I finally got to move the car back home a few hours later, and I went with a few friends for a nice dinner in Yorkville and hit the Pilot to see the Christopher Plock Quintet play some jazz. It’s not often you see a guy play two saxophones at the same time. All in all it was a pretty fun weekend.

Manhunt!!

Went to check out this for the first time today. It’s basically a weekly game of hide and seek, all over Toronto. Today’s location was based in the block around the CN Tower and SkyDome (I don’t care what they are calling these days, it’s still the SkyDome to me). It was good clean fun, with a good turnout of 20-plus making it out.

I almost made it through the whole hour without getting caught, but towards the end I got a bit cocky. I walked towards a group of 3 “its”, acting like I was part of them. As I was passing them, I made a break for it a bit too early and one of them tagged me as I started my sprint 🙁 It was a lot of fun, and great exercise too. Definitely go and check it out.

One other cool thing: MTV had a crew covering the goings-on tonight.