Milestones
It's independent film night with the boy, and I've got to go downtown to pick up our tickets for the animated objects festival. I'm multitasking.
And as we're downtown we stop into Milestones on Stephen Avenue Mall. Now really, IFN should be about independent & foreign films, and by extension independent and exotic restaurants, but we're already there and so we take a chance. We're hungry.
And it's lousy. Lousy not just in a "we ripped off Earl's Menu" kinda way, but in a "We ripped off Earl's menu and Denny's chef's" kinda way. Lousy, lousy food. A spinach/artichoke dip that had the consistency of melted butter with bits of green goop floating in it (spinach? Parsley?). A waiter that couldn't make eye contact (although I appreciated the fact they hired older waiters, Earl's could learn a lesson or two there) and scurrilously lit our lamp and had to write down an order for 2 - for 2. A burger with less meat on it than a McDonald's cheeseburger, a dessert that tasted vaguely of chocolate and I suspect was imported from the dessert cafe on 14 St (where they import things from I don't know...). Flat soda pop. A fine decor that looked like it might have once been expensive, but the carpet hadn't been vacuumed or cleaned in what I suspect were years, and there were chips here and there, small details of decay that spoke of the ruinous meal that awaited.
Summary? Don't go. Walk further up Stephen Avenue Mall and take a chance somewhere - anywhere - else. No stars here. Not a one.
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- Category: Restaurants & Cafes
Netflix VS Shaw
Now imagine that you owned a cable company that made exorbitant sums of money over charging people for things like Pay Per View Movies. $6.00 a movie overcharging. And it worked for years, decades even, and you were able to pay your children (and executives, in the rare instances they weren't your children) tens of millions of dollars a year.
But then along came a company - Netflix - with a different business model. One that involved paying a nominal monthly fee ($8.00) that allowed you to stream or download as many movies as you wanted each month for the same price that you charged for a single Pay Per View Movie. What would you do? Would you challenge your children to come up with a competitive business model? Would you perhaps adjust their salaries to reflect the new "tough" times? Or would you lobby the CRTC to allow you to impose a bandwidth cap and charge users for downloads and internet usage? (thereby recouping some of your losses)...
We know what Shaw's doing. Visit stopthemeter.ca and sign the petition to make the internet - and cable company - a slightly more competitive place. Before it's too late. And really, does Jim Shaw need any more of your money to fund his drunken "tell it like it is" luncheons?
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- Category: Who's Your ISP?
Antique Fruitwood Card Table
"You didn't have to shoot him, Colt" he said as he turned over the body lying on the table. "He only had a 3 and a 6. Nothing."
"Dead Man's Hand" said Ned, shaking his head sorrowfully. "3 and 6. Dead Man's Hand".
Hop Singh Joomp, or "Tex" as we called him, had been one of the best Poker players north of the 49th, but this was his last game.
"How much did I win?" I asked jauntily, trying to dispel the pall that seemed to have fallen over the table.
"Thirteen dollars 49 cents, 2 dollars of which are in Canadian Tire Money" said Shade. Shade was his name because of the green visor he always wore when playing cards.
"I think we should cancel poker night" said Ned, always the sourpuss. "That's 4 people you've killed in 4 weeks. I thought it was supposed to be a friendly game.."
"Can you get me another Coconut Rum Cooler, do you think Angel sweetie?" I asked the barmaid, trying to slip one of my newly won Canadian Tire Dollars into her G-String.
Angel was the topless waitress we brought in to serve beer on Poker nights. ....
***
We haven't had a friendly poker night ever since and so I've decided to sell this fine fruitwood antique card table. It's fruitwood because it's not Oak or Pine and what other kinds of wood are there? The pictures say it all. I work odd hours but could be around on the weekend if you're interested, or if you just want to drop around for a friendly game of cards ....
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- Category: For Sale
In the Shape of a Boar - Lawrence Norfolk
Interesting. Some curious ideas curiously woven together (they make sense later) - and self-referential, it's inspired me to do a little research (fact checking? It's made me curious is all).
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- Category: Books
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