rfmcdonald | [NON BLOG] Four Things (Reply)

Games night, ably hosted by snowmit and redrunner Saturday evening and into Sunday morning, was productive on multiple levels. I found out, for instance, that the theme song to Disney’s Winnie the Pooh can still make me cry after more than two decades, while wheeling about on a playground merry-go-round dislodged from its concrete base in Christie Pits and playing lethal games of tag around playground equipment are remarkably fun things to do late at night. I’d also like to thank redrunner for allowing me to exercise an undiscovered interest in committing vehicular homicide for the first time at Grand Theft Auto. A variety of interesting people were met, including appelle, danger_aardvark, and fleur.

This week’s meeting of the Counterfactual Threats Analysis Group was limited to only two people, myself and James, and was held over lunch at the Volo Caffè on Yonge Street this Sunday afternoon. Topics discussed included the difficulties of finding economic reasons for space colonization and the similarity of isolated insular societies to space settlements (for good and for ill), the movie Hero and broader discussion of Chinese history, and the implications of artificial intelligence for the professional classes (computer programmers will be going down).

I met up later Sunday afternoon with choreo_m at the ROM. Too many section of the ROM are closed off for Thorsell’s Renaissance project—the Asian galleries on the first floor are particular losses. There’s still quite a lot to do for the visitor, though, apart from my particular favourite activity of making rubbings of leaves and footprints using the paper and crayons provided at the second-floor wildlife exhibit. I wish that the gallery was open, if only to provide a useful counterpoint to the overviews of European and Western domestic arts on the third floor. As we left just before the ROM’s closing, we agreed to meet to watch Ladder 49 this evening using a free pass for two given to me by my manager.

Two people have separately told me that staff at the Drake Hotel, just down the street from me, were so rude to them that they’ve decided to boycott the institution. I’ve always enjoyed the atmosphere there; then again, I’ve always spent money there. Regardless of the hospitability of its staff, the Drake definitely has excellent live music. Picking up a pamphlet there yesterday, for instance, I’ve found out that Carole Pope will be putting on a show there on the 10th. I’ve heard "High School Confidential" enough on the Grey Region’s sound system to become curious about the group. Googling, I’ve found a lot of interesting things. I think that had I been of a different generation, raised in a different location, and possessing just lot more self-knowledge, I might also have been a fan; or, at least, have known Carole Pope and Rough Trade as something other than entries in my one-volume encyclopedia of Canadian popular music. Upon inquiring at the desk, I found out that the advance tickets have all been sold, but that there’s still a possibility of buying some at the door. Convenient, isn’t it, that I live in the neighbourhood?