Discovering T.O. #4

The 4th "Discovering T.O." post (preceded by this one and that one... oh, and that one, too) comes in perfect time as it can be paired with an exciting announcement:

I'M MOVING BACK TO TORONTO!!!
WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Where am I moving from?  Well, I've been living in the wee town of Port Hope, Ontario for the past (nearly) two years.  I moved here for work and it's been quite the learning experience -- I've definitely enjoyed elements of it, but the small town life is decidedly not for me... at least not long-term... but more on that in another post.

What do I mean I'm moving back?  Good question, because I haven't been living in Toronto for the entire time I've been keeping this blog.  I haven't actually lived in Toronto for nearly 7 years now.  Wow... time flies!  I lived in Waterloo for 5 years, and now Port Hope for 2.  I've spent tonnes of time in Toronto in between -- summer of '06, holidays, and every weekend since I moved to PH -- but I haven't really lived there.  As of July 1st, I'll be living there.  For real.

Beyond just living there, it'll be my first time living in Toronto on my own.  Any time I've lived in TO up until now it's been with my parents.  This will be Sugar & Gravy's first place of her own in Toronto.  That's about a million times better.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted during the moving process, but moving on...

Discovering T.O. #4

I get the sense that even if I live in Toronto for the rest of my life, there will always be places to discover.  My dad has lived in Toronto for almost his whole life, and my Mom for over 30 years, and they still find new places, so I'm optimistic.

Not this past weekend but the one before, I found two new spots I would recommend:

(1) Bar Volo -- as you likely know already, I'm an avid reader of Toronto Life.  In this wee town I live in, it's my little slice of Toronto, and it helps guide me in making my weekend plans.  They recently put out their annual "Where to Eat Now" issue, which includes a Restaurant Guide.  I love this guide.  I kept my 2011 edition at my office year-round and would mark it up with a highlighter (for the ones I'd been to) and mark with pencil the ones I wanted to go to.  

One of the hot spots according to the 2012 edition is Bar Volo, which I'd read about on websites and in other mags, so I figured it was worth checking out.  I went there for a few beers with a new friend and absolutely loved it.  It's obvious that beer and other alcoholic beverages is "their thing" because the options are endless.  It had a good vibe, relaxed atmosphere, and I really enjoyed myself.  Check it out -- on Yonge, between Bloor & Wellesley.

(2) The Power Plant -- This is another Toronto Life-inspired visit.  Way back when (November or December, I think), I saw an item in the TL events pages for an exhibition called: Coming After.  You can click the link to read more about it, but in short it focusing on artists who grew up in the shadow of the mid-1980s to early 90s' queer experience.  Artist Sharon Hayes puts it best: "What marks me generationally is that ... it wasn't my friends who were dying, it was the people I was just discovering, people I was just beginning to model myself after, people I longed to become."

The exhibition sounded great to me, so I snapped a photo of the ad and forgot about it.  

Later I was flipping through photos on my iPhone and found the ad.  I realized then that the exhibition was ending in about a week's time, so I asked a friend to join me, and on Saturday, March 3rd (the second-last day of the exhibition), we headed to The Power Plant (contemporary gallery) on the harbourfront to see what it was all about.  It was a really great exhibition; diverse media, powerful imagery, and some incredible video installations.  My best way to describe it is that I had never seen anything like it before.  I was very engaged, and would very much recommend it... if it wasn't already over.

Posts to come -- my experience living in a small town & two films I saw recently that I think are important.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Whoa!  I need to write while it's fresh on my mind.

I just watched "Exit Through the Gift Shop".  It's about Banksy...
But no, that's not really true... it's really about street art...
...no, no... that's not entirely true either.  It's about both of those things + Thierry Guetta a.k.a. MBW a.k.a. Mister Brainwash.

Such is the conundrum of "Exit Through the Gift Shop".  Who is it even about?  How did it all go down?  And how does everybody involved feel about it now?  Needless to say, it's very meta.

It was one of the best movies I've ever seen in many ways.  It really made me think and it was not at all what I expected.  I was craving a documentary, went with a suggestion from my sister, and it DELIVERED!!!  Thank you, sista, and thank you, Banksy.

Please see this film.

Now onto my next doc - "Hoop Dreams".

N.Y.C. Part II

How is it that something I used to do to procrastinate is now something I procrastinate doing?
Ch-ch-ch-changes.

Anyway, without further ado: NEW YORK CITY!!!
More specifically...

10 things I learned in (or general comments about) NYC - 2011 edition

1. The NYC transit system makes so much sense... unless you're used to the TTC. It's an incredibly efficient and elaborate system, but when you're used to tracks being for 1 train that's going in only 1 direction, then you'll likely slip up at one point or another.
   
   
2. I would really love to spend more time in Central Park when I'm next in the Big Apple. Both times that I've visited I've walked around the park a teeny bit, but I'm interested in a full day spent in the park. It's just so lush and grand and I want to go visit at the height of the summer, pack a picnic and a book or 2, and just take it all in.
   
   
3. There is so much good food to eat!!! Each resto deserves its own spot on this list, but I'd at least like to tell you where I ate and why I loved it:
   
   Taboon (52nd & 10th) - My friends and I ate here on Sunday morning with another friend of ours who was performing a musical at a venue nearby. The restaurant was nearly empty when we got there, but we stuck around because of the close proximity to our friend's venue, and the great vibe, and the great service. That said, within the hour the place was packed, and a 3-piece band set themselves up in the corner and started playing some jazzy tunes. My 3 friends all had a waffle with ice cream on top and I had the Steak Benedict. The food was DELICIOUS and completely reasonable. I'd love to go back to Taboon.
   
   Tom's Restaurant (Brooklyn) - We took our Saturday brunch at Tom's Restaurant, a diner near where we were staying. Our friend recommended it highly, and I can see why. When we got there, the line was going around the corner, but it moved quickly, and our appetites were kept at bay with the food that a server was walking around and handing out to people in line - yeah, seriously. While in line we got orange slices, a cookie, and something else that I can't remember. The orange slices came last but were followed by squirts of hand sanitizer. Yeah, that's right - Tom's has got you covered. We didn't wait too long though, and had a delicious meal once we sat down. Tonnes of coffee, and I had the sausage & egg meal with the usual fixings. My friends had a variety of other stuff and everything looked and tasted amazing!
   
   Chavella's (Brooklyn) - The last notable restaurant to share with you (I'm doing this in reverse order) is Chavella's, where we took Brian (our hostess with the mostess) out for dinner on Friday evening. It's a Mexican place that he recommended and it was absolutely delish. We walked over from his apartment and got seated almost immediately on their outside patio. It was a decent evening weather-wise, and we only started feeling cold at the end of our meal, so it was nice to get some fresh air while we ate. All of us ordered some Mexican alcoholic beverages (I had a classic cervesa - Corona) and shared some amazing guacamole, and then I had soft-shelled tacos with delicious rice on the side. Others at the table had Mexican soups and hard-shelled tacos and all sorts of other yummy choices. The dinner was perfect, the server was really fun... all in all it was a great time.
   
   
4. Going to the MoMA on Saturday afternoon was definitely a highlight. I've always wanted to go, so I visited their website before the trip and made note that there was a really cool sounding exhibit on called "Looking at Music 3.0". Lucky for me we went to that exact exhibit on Saturday and I loved every minute of it. You can read more about it at the link, but basically it was the 3rd segment in a series exploring music (a lot of it having come out of New York City) and its impact on culture. The room was set up with headphones and music videos playing on loop... there was Le Tigre, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys... it was so cool! I browsed some other exhibits, too, but didn't have nearly enough time to see it all. I'd love to go back!
   
   
5. The key to Canal St., it seems, is to reject your entire Canadian upbringing, and force yourself to be aggressive and deceitful... at least that's the sense I got after observing my bestie Rachel negotiating with the little woman calling out "Coach...Louis...Chanel" as we walked by. Rachel lied, cheated, and did whatever it took to get a good deal, and I admired her for it. That's just the way you do it on Canal. Thanks to Rach, I got a great deal on a bracelet for my sister!
   
   
6. I love SoHo. The shops, the vibe, the layout, the architecture... there's nothing like that in Toronto; nothing that seems so historic and yet so modern, so hip and yet so accessible... We popped in and out of stores, grabbed a snack at the SoHo Cafe (my 2nd time there, which I was surprised to have happen when I've only been to NYC twice), and just enjoyed walking around. I mentioned that last year: the magic of New York is how much you can see and experience without paying anything and just being willing to walk and walk and walk.
   
   
7. This weekend I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to see the opera Orfeo ed Euridice at the Metropolitan Opera, known as the Met. More fortunate was I to have my best friend Brian (who we stayed with) performing on the stage with other members of the Mark Morris Dance Group. Mark Morris choreographed the dance portions of this production, and not that I've been to (m)any professional operas, but in my personal opinion it was an outstanding production -- unique, funky, modern, beautiful... the list goes on. My friend did amazingly well (front & centre, NBD) and the music was wonderful. It was great!
   
   
8. As I've mentioned already (I think), I stayed with my best and oldest friend (not in terms of age, but in terms of how long I've known him) Brian in his apartment in Brooklyn. The apartment was fantastic and it was so nice not to have to spend anything on accommodations, and it was really neat to somewhat get to know the area in Brooklyn where he lives, which I think is called Prospect Heights, if I've got that right. He told us it's an up-and-coming neighbourhood, and though there was some shadiness in some spots, it was definitely a cute and fun area, where I would be happy to live myself. There were some great restos and cute cafes, and I was happy to now be able to imagine where he lives when we chat on the phone or on Skype or whatever.
   
   
9. On Sunday, after walking through a teeny bit of Central Park, we walked down Columbus Ave. from about 70th to 50th. I'd never walked around this area of the Upper West Side before, and I loved it. Columbus was filled with people walking, great boutiques with what looked like awesome clothing, little stationery shops, cafes, etc. So much fun - glad to have walked down it.
   
   
10. And, as is tradition, I must always say: Home is where the heart is.
    

I Know What My Peers Like

My bestie has got this stuck in my head.



The styles in this vid are so ultimately fierce, and how about the design of the video itself? Like at 2:03 when her face is animated and slides across the screen behind the saxophonist? BRILLIANT.

It makes me think about styles and architecture and design and fashion and music and art through the ages and decades. I remember finding it fascinating in music history that in the Classical period, the architecture was very symmetrical and simple - clean lines and very straightforward... and so was the music! A piece like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart - totally symmetrical, clean lines, etc. Isn't that cool? Obviously the Classical period isn't alone... Baroque had the same thing with architecture mirroring music mirroring lifestyles too, I suppose! Except with Baroque, everything was big and luxurious and elaborated and flowery... at least I think I've got these periods right. I'm really talking about this off the top of my head.

Anyway, it reminds me of a convo my bestie (who got me stuck on The Waitresses) and I had. He asked me, "Why do you think we've seen a change in our friends in terms of drug use?" What he was referring to was seeing some friends/peers move to some harder drugs as opposed to the classic choice of weed. I replied, "There's been a change in popular music," and he was thinking the same thing.

It's true! Look at the Black Eyed Peas' most recent album: "The E.N.D." A variety of songs seem to really be influenced by the electro genre. The electro genre is still primarily underground, but it's moving closer to the mainstream, and its influence is obvious. With more people listening to remixes, mash-ups, and electro - whether it be Girl Talk, Steve Aoki, MSTRKRFT, Passion Pit, MGMT, or B.E.P. - there has been a change in lifestyle/party style/drug choice.

I'm convinced they're correlated!