An interesting ad was noted at Yonge Dundas Square in Toronto, Ontario on 20-April-2009
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Is life giving you a headache? A creative billboard in Toronto's Yonge Dundas Square may be something that you relate to. Yonge Dundas Square has turned into Toronto's answer to New York city's Times Square, with many eye-catching advertisements all over the background, and the one pictured above featured what appeared to be a wrecking ball hitting someone in the head. Not obvious from the picture is that the ad blows in the wind in a manner that makes it look like the head is throbbing from the headache. My congratulations go to Tylenol for that one.
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Just a few blocks from Yonge Dundas Square was the location where The Boxmasters, whose members include Billy Bob Thornton, performed one of their few Canadian performances. The band decided not to continue with a tour in Canada after their well-publicized appearance on the CBC Radio One show "Q" in which Thornton, well, didn't come across very well. In case you missed it, the video of the appearance is here. While the incident was widely publicized, my favorite part of the exchange was not--when Thornton claimed that Canadian audiences were "like mashed potatoes without the gravy," interviewer Jian Ghomeshi countered that Canadians actually use lots of gravy, including on french fries.
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While that interview may have reflected well on Ghomeshi and the CBC, there's one thing about the CBC Radio One Metro Morning show that has started to annoy me. Before I moved to Canada, I don't believe I had ever heard the song Seven-Day Fool. I now think I've heard just about every rendition of the song ever done in history; it seems like they play it at least once a month on the program. It's a good song, but it wore out its welcome on the show long ago--have the music producers spent too much time in the sun?
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I'm beginning to think all politicians from Arizona have spent too much time in the sun. Something has to explain why former governor Janet Napolitano, now United States Secretary of Homeland Security, and senator John McCain both accused Canada in recent days of allowing in terrorists from the 11-September-2001 attacks. In reality, none of the terrorists entered the United States from Canada. Why Arizona politicians can't seem to understand that is beyond me.
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Had McCain become President of the United States, rail passenger service would not have been supported. In contrast, the Obama administration is aggressively pursuing both short-term improvements to the present system and high speed corridors for the future. President Obama even used the term "railfan" to describe vice president Joe Biden, a regular Amtrak passenger and long-time rail passenger network supporter. I didn't think I'd live to see a US president to use the word "railfan."
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A mallard duck couple gave careful consideration to the turntable at the John Street Roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario on 22-April-2009
Meanwhile, rail preservation in the Toronto area continues to move forward. I personally spent some time last week operating the turntable at the John Street Roundhouse as tracks were re-laid between the turntable and the roundhouse building. Much to my surprise, a mallard duck couple spent about half an hour waddling around the turntable as if they were checking it out for something. I was starting to wonder if Engineer Michael would need to take the place of Officer Michael (see Make Way for Ducklings), but they finally wandered off and did not return.
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