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Chris Hume’s Bestest Buildings #3: Pointed Criticism

Posted on May 17th, 2011 – Be the first to comment

The Toronto Star’s Cristopher Hume continues his assault on modern sensibilities with his number three pick from his Toronto’s best/worst architecture list, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal building that juts out from the northern end of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Chris took it upon himself to preempt our collective vitriol and disgust for this building by reassuring us that he’s well aware of just how much we hate it. He picked it nonetheless, pointing to its 21-century styling as the determining factor for his choice. Far be it for me to question his assertions about how all Canadians feel, but personally, I kinda dig this building. It’s an incredibly stark yet beautiful (especially in the right light), extension of the stalwartly historic ROM building, and I’ve yet to read about anyone taking an eye out on the thing, so I guess I’m the one lone Canadian that disagrees.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Videos

Quay to the city

Posted on May 17th, 2011 – 2 Comments

The prep for the 2015 Pan Am Games continues at Queen’s Quay and Jarvis, with promises of extra camera-fodder to come later this summer (at least from what I can see from my 4th storey perch):

(these are big so give ’em a moment to load)

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Chris Hume’s Bestest Buildings #4: George’s Grub and Chef Schooling Place

Posted on May 12th, 2011 – 2 Comments

A.K.A. The George Brown College Chef School, this is Hume’s second pick for his best buildings of Toronto list. I would’ve thought that, maybe, it had something to do with its association with Susur Lee, or maybe some kinda proud culinary tradition or some such junk, but instead Hume likes the building mostly because aspiring chefs can have their kitchen failures ogled by random pedestrians passing by outside — the front is all glass.

Personally, I think Chris is out to lunch with this pick. Maybe he’s simply bit off more than he can chew. Or, if you want, chalk it up to a difference in tastes.

Enough awful food-oriented punnery? Let’s watch the video:

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Videos

Chris Hume’s Bestest Buildings #5: Pointy Love

Posted on May 11th, 2011 – Be the first to comment

According to the Toronto Star’s Christopher Hume, everybody’s always asking him what the best and worst buildings in the city are. Plus, everybody loves a list. Who am I to argue with such hyperbole-free reasoning? Besides, I have my own faves, and although Chris’ picks would probably make my own Top-20 list, I’m not convinced everybody, everywhere, throughout all known time and dimensions, would agree with either of us. Still, Chris’ picks are a good place to start.

Here’s his #5 pick, the Pure Spirit building that marks the north-west corner of the Distillery District and which, as Mr. Hume so aptly points out, brought order and reason to an area of town that barely obeyed the laws of physics.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Videos

Basically the owner of this site is a revenge getting jerk.

Posted on May 11th, 2011 – 4 Comments

Found this item while browsing through Alexa reviews today:

How cute! I have my first hater! It’s not really official until you have haterz, but still…

Well, let me assure you, Mister suckafree, that my heart bleeds most profusely at the points of those sharp criticisms. That “anyone can make a blog”, comment cut deep, sir. I would like to take a moment, however, to remind you that:

I have no idea who you are.
I haven’t a clue as to what you’re talking about.
It’s customary to hyphenate two or more words being used as an adjective, such as, “revenge-getting jerk”.

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

The Distillery theorem

Posted on May 10th, 2011 – 3 Comments

Art + Alcohol = The Distillery District

I mean, how else do you explain things like this?

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

Banking can be THIS comfortable

Posted on May 10th, 2011 – 2 Comments

And here I am walking all the way home like a sucker. What the hell am I paying all those service fees for?!

Filed under: Dispatches, Patrick Bay, Pictures

We’s not ig’nant

Posted on May 9th, 2011 – 4 Comments

Sarah and I did some casual, Sunday afternoon, stroll-y type shopping at the Cherry Street T&T yesterday. It was my intention to give her a taste (yes, pun included), of my years in Taiwan — at least in terms of product selection. We were missing the traditionally oppressive humidity and funky odours known as “authentic street cuisine”, but with its hordes of English-less products, mystery ingredients (on the labels we could read), and unintentionally hilarious packaging, I feel pretty satisfied with the authenticity of the store. And to top off a fully immersive experience, you should always walk out feeling a little more ignorant than when you came in — mission accomplished! Well, maybe ignorant isn’t the exact word, but I’m sure you get the gist.