I am getting so far behind on the blog it isn't funny. Indeed, there are times that maintaining the blog, to the limited extent that I do, gets to be more of a drag than anything. In any event, I'll fill in a few of the more important things from the past weekend, and then perhaps add a second post covering other things on my mind.
Sat. was mostly a day of chores. I hadn't felt up to going to the gym on Friday, so I went fairly early on Sat. I then ran up to Danforth to drop things off at the library and to pick up some holds. I really wanted to get there before noon, since I didn't want to deal with the Taste of Danforth. I went over to Circus Books and asked about selling used books. They seemed somewhat receptive to the idea that I bring Musil's The Man Without Qualities by and they'll take a look. Perhaps if it hadn't been for the Taste I would have run back right then, but it will just have to wait. Later in the afternoon, I did laundry and grabbed the groceries. Since the rest of the family is travelling to Chicago, I'll pretty much be on my own for meals, so I didn't have to bring a lot back, which was fine with me. I did just a bit of weeding and staked the beans growing the backyard. While I don't think I'll be able to eat anything from the garden (in the unlikely event something grows, the raccoons will get it), it's an interesting experiment.
Sunday I went over to Regent Park Aquatic Centre. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate my swim goggles. I borrowed a pair from my son, though they didn't fit well. I pulled the straps tight to try keep water from leaking in, and the strap broke! I only managed to swim half a lap and then had to swim back basically with my eyes closed! They don't even sell goggles here, which seems kind of odd. So that was a huge bummer, since I've wanted to try to add a bit more exercise into my routine. When I got to work, I took a look at Sports Chek, but they basically didn't have anything other than Raptors gear. I'm not going to bother going into that store again...
I got some work done, and then around 4:30 I set out for Ontario Place. I've been to Exhibition Place for the CNE, though not very often, but this was the first time I went over to Ontario Place. I have to agree it is pretty run down. I actually had biked over, and finally found a place to lock up my bike. The path to get there isn't great (far too narrow and no separation from walkers/joggers).
I was there a bit early and checked out the Night Market. It was a little classier than the one in Richmond (no stalls selling cell phone cases or socks), so mostly food stalls and less fried food overall. That said, the food was way overpriced, and I settled for just having roast corn and a cannoli filled with Filipino flavouring.
Then I went over to the Budwiser stage to see the show. I was there to see Beck and Spoon was opening for them. Actually, there were four bands on the line-up! Sunflower Bean was ok, but not particularly memorable. I liked Spoon a lot, though I wish they had another 10-15 minutes, as their set was just too short.* About every third show they sing "Can I Sit Next to You?" instead of "Hot Thoughts." I was hoping this would have been one of those nights, but it was not to be. Sad...
While the crowd was really into Cage the Elephant, I didn't care for them at all. I thought they tried way too hard (they had fire on stage, lasers, smoke machines). The lead singer seemed to be trying to channel Mick Jagger. I definitely would have preferred it if they had switched places with Spoon. I gave up listening after a while and worked on a short playlet for September's Sing-for-Your-Supper.
I should probably mention that in terms of other disappointments, I had brought along a new SF road adventure (FKA USA) and I ended up getting about halfway through the book when I finally decided to drop it due to a combination of the very annoying footnotes and the endless "How can you top this?" impossible situations that the author put his characters through. I decided it was basically a cynical mash-up of The Wizard of Oz, McCarthy's The Road, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Ready, Player One. It definitely reads as if one eye was on the movie rights, and indeed, it has already been optioned... While I had quite a few issues with Ready, Player One, that at least felt like it was written by someone who understood and loved video games/puzzle games/quests. This feels like it was written by someone with only the most cursory understanding of or appreciation for dystopian SF as a genre.
Anyway, Beck's set was great, if a bit too short. He seems quite re-energized on this tour after a few somewhat down years. The music was surprisingly loud, and if anything, the vocals probably should have been a bit higher in the mix. While Beck has been kicking off every show with "Loser," he did mix things up a bit this time, moving "Devil's Haircut" and "The New Pollution" towards the end of the show. I definitely appreciated the live version of "Saw Lightning." The show ended just a bit before 11. I had some trouble finding my way back to Union Station, but finally made it. I dropped my bike off, and then found out that there was a silly shuttle bus to King Station (I was probably only one more block away at that point), though it could have been worse. There was a fatality on Lakeshore West, snarling GO Trains for hours. However, I was not pleased to find out that even though I didn't get to Pape until after midnight the bus service still hadn't been restored from the Taste disruption, so I had to walk the rest of the way home. So that was my not very restful weekend...
* I also would have liked to hear "Do I Have to Talk You Into It." This video is a fairly good representation of what the show could have been if they had had another 10-15 minutes.
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