May I direct your attention here?

You May have filed to notice the hilarious pun on the month these pictures were taken in. If you read to this point, you're forgiven.

Take me out at the ballgame

Well the hot days didn't last long. Yesterday morning I woke up to an apartment that was 25 degrees, but by sundown a temperate wind had made the weather a bit less balmy. Unfortunate then that I had not taken a coat to the Blue Jays game I went to. Also unfortunate for differing reasons, that I also forgot my glasses.



The game did not go well for the Jays, who showed poor hitting and poor fielding... and pitching. They hit some dingers though, and there's one really good player on the team --Jose Bautista.

If you could just like... hit more home runs?

It was 10-2 by the eighth inning, at which point I decided to leave. The game had started at 7PM and it was kind of cool out. Actually I didn't arrive until about 20 minutes after the game started. Still, it's a long peaceful game, so I didn't mind too much. Though the Jays finally started scoring some runs after I left... and now that I think about it, they scored their last just before I took my seat. Huh.




The seats were pretty good as you can see from the pictures. Just off of third base. Though there weren't many people present; it was Monday evening after all. The Skydome was mostly empty, (Though attendance on previous game days are way up this season) but you could see how the crowd all came to sit in just a few important sections; around the bases and the area of left field where big hits and home runs would end up. There were even people in the top level, but only behind home plate. The dome was open, which I haven't seen in a long time --and it sure did look nice.

I know the Rogers Centre security can be very dick-ish, but I was still surprised to see some people sitting off either alone or in a group in isolated sections. You'd think that the ticket sellers would at least be able to crowd everyone as close together within price points, but I guess not.

I must mention the security --and while nobody acted rude or anything like that, there does seem to be way too many of them and they seem pretty anal. One attendant asked me to wait until an at-bat was over before taking my seat, (Though concession sellers can walk up and down the aisles shouting with impunity) and while standing on the concession level watching just before I left, I was asked to step back behind a line. They just really don't want people in places they don't have tickets for... even when there's no one there and the audience has mostly left for the night. Jeez.




Speaking of concessions, the people are nice but the prices are evil. 4.75 for a coke bottle. 5.75 for a poor hot dog. Ugh. I do like the beer boys though. They seemed very self-aware: "Buy beer now instead of the half price beer later! Why let logic dictate your purchases?"

There was a sing along mid-way through the seventh, and the ground crew amusingly came out to the William Tell Overture as they quickly fixed up the in-field. The crowd had a good atmosphere in spite of the small size. I think the dangerous foul balls present a way for the crowd to be the centre of attention. Its funny seeing somebody nearly get beaned, or kids racing for a ball.

It's hard not to find a good view, as in baseball there's little to obstruct your view of the action. Though I guess being out in the field inherently means you're almost always far away from the action. When I walked behind left field I could even see Detroit's pitcher because his grey uniform blended into the I-can't-believe-it's-not-green-construction-paper turf that the Rogers Centre uses. (Again; glasses) I'm always surprised when I'm at the Rogers Centre by both how large the stadium is and how the field never seems to big by comparison.

I also noticed that the seats are angled to look out into centre field instead of the infield, which is because the sections are designed to slide into the outfield for football games. Also, the upper decks are not cantilevered over the field seats at all, which might be better when they're empty and the field seats get an unobstructed view of the sky or dome, but both that and the angled seats are unfortunate side effects of a multi-use stadium.



The game itself was fun enough. It sort of blends together though, and it doesn't seem as long as it does on television. Its a well paced game in person... still kind of long though. Music is piped in a bit too, used to intro batters, pitchers, or to herald an event in the game. (Kind of like in basketball) Seeing someone really hit a ball deep sure is fun, and the game looks very different when all those on-screen stats are not in your field of vision.

The Unblinking Eye

I went to see Thor on Saturday afternoon.

It's a good movie. I thought Thor was a funny and friendly character and I liked that like Tony Stark in Iron Man, he has some notable character flaws to overcome. Though this is a simplified version of the job done by Robert Downey Jr. Indeed, I think Thor's relationship with Natalie Portman's character was in a similar vein. They had chemistry, but matters were a little more vanilla in Thor than they were in Iron Man.

Where director Kenneth Branagh really showed his Shakespearean background was in the relationship of the Aasgardian Royal family. Thor, Odin, and Loki made for the most interesting part of the movie. Loki was probably the most tragic and intriguing villain of these superhero movies, (Except perhaps for Magneto from X-Men) and the royal machinations of these alien god-people made this superhero movie distinct from the other superhero movies. Thor's fish out-of-water style exile to Earth may make it seem like a familiar story on the surface, but even that was handled differently. This wasn't like the Masters of the Universe or Beastmaster 2 where a superhero spends his time wasting ours by being amazed by internal combustion or a Big Mac.

I didn't really think that the whole Norse gods as 'aliens' in space would fly but I guess it worked out alright. It just goes to show that you can use any crazy background you want for movie just so long as there's simplicity and internal logic.



The movie was funny, and had good action, and I really liked the plot. But anything on the ice planet was kinda blurry looking, (a consequence of 3-d filming I guess even though I didn't see it in 3-d) and for some reason it seemed a little less memorable. Maybe I've just seen so many superhero movies at this point, it doesn't even matter if the movies are different.


Earlier in the week, I seemed to have a twitch under my right eye. I read online that this can result from stress or lack of sleep rather than anything serious, (I suspect I know what brought it on) so I made arrangements to get some rest by buying a ticket to a baseball game, though my twitch had gone away by the weekend.

EPIC FAIL

Need anymore be said?



Damn I wish I didn't have a newspaper subscription. I do not look forward to being aggravated on a regular basis for the next five years.

Angry Bairds and a blast from the Past

Get ready for the election with Angry Bairds! Smash Tony's Gazebo, the Supreme Court, and Parliament Hill!




Here are some photos from ye olde York. While digging up some land near the Batthurst bridge, an old railway station from the 19th century was uncovered where a Library is supposed to be built.

Here I am helpfully indicating the most interesting part of the structure in the foreground with my thumb.

Among the plans for the remains is one neat proposal for a glass floor over the ruins.

Kevin's lock of the century...of the week!

Went out to a TFC game at BMO field yesterday. It did not go according to plan. The weather was overcast, windy, and cold. At least the rain earlier in the day had stopped for the duration. About 16,000 people, (Maybe less to my eyes) turned up to see Toronto FC play DC United and were not treated to a welcome sight.



The home team went down 2-0 within 10-15 minutes, and then went down to ten men after one was sent off the field after the second half. The final score was a humiliating 3-0 against the home team.



Their new manager and coach have tried to rebuilding the consistently poor team with new characters and a new style, which unfortunately seems to involve a lot of lazily passing the ball back and forth in front of their own goal. The resulting consequences being a lot of giveaways in their own half. The crowd eventually stopped caring and started lighting flares and setting off smoke bombs, (Well... one I think) but they seemed to have more enthusiasm then the slowly jogging team on the field or the foodies who don't bother to char my hot dog.


According to the stadium announcer I can now expect to see, (or not see since I'll be out of town and most TFC games are broadcast on a specialty channel that no one buys) Toronto absolutely 'crush' their 'local' rivals the Columbus Crew, (Yes, that is Columbus Ohio) who've they've never beaten before. In the market we call that irrational exhuberence.

Unless the awful weather continues and BMO field is washed away by a biblical torrent of freezing water, (To which the red patch boys, north end elite, U-sector et al. will still make pilgrimage to) then Columbus becomes my lock of the century... of the week!

Who cares about bases-ball anyway?

Slow moving bat and ball games are in the news a bit right now with the opening of the baseball season and the World Cup of cricket, (Played in-between floods in Bangladesh) so I'm inspired to talk about those right now.

There's something to be said about a non-clocked, non-contact sport of individual duels, where every player by rule gets an opportunity to play the hero, where the playing field can be quite variable, where there is relatively little controversial officiating. But holy hell... how can there be 160+ games in 180 days? Are they crazy? Sure the players may not be so taxed physically, but doesn't that diminish the games too much? I guess it's a feature of the sport coming into its own before powerful players unions. (Much like hockey with its enormous schedule)

Baseball is painfully slow, but part of that is a feature of the contemplative nature of the sport where players aren't rushed or timed. Still, they should be able to speed it up a little as it certainly lasts longer than it did in its classic era, so something changed. If it's so important to let the catcher and pitcher walk over and chat, and let the batter leave the box when he feels like it, then maybe they could just drop an inning instead. Unfortunately, given the extended innings and check downs required to prevent base stealing; exciting offense actually makes the game longer, whereas defense makes it shorter.

The Toronto Blue Jays played their opening home games today at the Skydome. The home opener drew a capacity crowd of 47,000+ and even the follow-up pulled in about 27,000. It hasn't been THAT long since the Masoleumdome drew that many people to a regular season sporting event, but if it held up it would be a good sign for the previously free falling Blue Jays. (They also seem to hit a lot of home runs, which probably helps them draw crowds)

They played twice in quick succession against a team, (The Minnesota Twins) notable mostly for nearly moving from their home because of stadium problems until the state government decided to buy them a new stadium paid for by the residents of the twin cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) who were not as enthused about paying to keep them, but didn't get a say.

On the other hand, this was their former home:

I don't see what the problem is. The Jays played in snow when they debuted.

Baseball nostalgia in the US usually brings forth images of 1900-1960; an old-timey turn of the century countryside pastime when men who grew up on farms played the games and wore hats, (See The Natural) morphing into an urban post-war somewhat integrated sport.

While you may think its funny that baseball can be a nostalgic thing in Canada even though we've only had major league teams since 1976; it's not. I don't mean because our nostalgia lenses are colored by collector Coca-Cola cans from the first of two back-to-back World series, but rather that changing style have made the nineties and eighties seem very far away in the past indeed:

Check out that haircut. Don't see too many of those anymore.

But I was actually a bit surprised to find out in my reading that Baseball actually had a long and vibrant history in Canada even prior to Major League expansion here. Rounders/Cricket had morphed into a 5 base, 11 man Canadian baseball game here in the mid 19h century which lost favor to American style rules.

Baseball's Toronto Maple Leafs were founded in 1896 predating the other Maple Leafs by decades. (Also, look at that date --this is as old as our hockey and football teams) Canada only had minor league teams for the first century of baseball, playing against southern neighbors unlike our football teams who crossed the country playing each other and are probably better remembered for being a 'lesser' pro league than minor league teams without their own distinct Canadian heritage.

There were actually a lot of baseball stadiums around where I live. There was an old stadium on the Toronto Islands called Hanlan's Point Stadium, another one called Maple Leaf Stadium near where the Tip-Top building is located, (A baseball diamond and park remain there today) the old Exhibition Stadium which was shared with the Argonauts was where BMO field is now;

AKA Exhibit 1 on why multipurpose stadiums aren't so great.

Which brings us to the Skydome which still stands not too much further from where I live. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that so many stadia were downtown in Toronto, or near exhibition grounds and tourist attractions... but I don't think this concentration would be the case in many other cities.

Because I like to feature terrible games; check out this attempt to replicate a famous moment in the 1988 World Series game one where a player nursing two injured legs bats the winning homerun. Seeing as how MLB doesn't like Youtube putting up clips of their copyrighted material, this was made using the 8-bit RBI game from Nintendo:

I think it may lose something in the translation.