Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Ok...since my frustration is complete with Haloscan and their "migration" efforts...and even though Ram from Funkoashi tried to help me with it (to no avail)...I've decided to move this blog to Tumblr.

I'm at http://my2secondshelflife.tumblr.com/ now, if you care to link me...or visit me.

It's 9 years with blogger, and I'm not moving any of my archives.
I'm lazy...and this blog can stay the way that it is.

Visit me at my new digs...as of, like 5 minutes ago.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009




The Mister and me went to the ROM today and took the subway for the first time in a few years. I was disappointed at how dirty it is.

When I compare it to say Madrid, or even NYC...for a small subway system, the TTC is embarrassing.

The missing ceiling slats in all the stations we were at, the absolutely gross coffee shops (went in to get a coffee at Bathurst subway station and turned on our heels. Newspapers all around one half of a table. It looked like someone pissed there and they couldn't be bothered to mop it up)...By the Way Bakery at Bathurst station looks like it needs a hosedown compared to what it looked like just a few years ago.

At Yorkdale subway station, we went to buy tickets..just as we got to the wicket, the attendant closed it, looked at us, pointed to the hand written sign he was holding in his hand, shoved it above the mouth piece, and turned his back on us.

Nice.

It's just sad.
At 3 bucks a trip in January.

I'm trying to fix my comments since Haloscan is screwed.
Hopefully, they'll be back up today.

Thanks for those to emailed me to tell me they were screwed.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Blansdowne



(click on image to see the collection of photos)

I have a soft spot for Bloor and Lansdowne.
I grew up in the area, and I'm still there every day.

Ramanan Sivaranjan from Funkaoshi has taken some great photos of a neighbourhood that is gentrifying.

20 years from now, the places he's photographed will be very different.

Ram is curating history.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Rest in Peace Maggie Jones



Maggie joins the Barlow family at an AA meeting for Peter...this is an awesome scene.
Almost as good as the Sopranos intervention scene for Christopher.

One of Tigers chicks is interviewed


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

...and she just sounds pathetic and delusional. The terrible thing is that she's on TV talking about intimate details of what she thinks was an actual relationship..


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

How much money do you suppose she got for an interview that makes her look like an airheaded idiot?

Not enough, I'm guessing.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Friday, December 18, 2009

Ten Thousand Pictures of You from Robin King on Vimeo.



Awesome

(via Laughing Squid)



Cute and clever way to lead a good Samaritan to yourself if you ever lose your camera.

Click on image for the whole story.

(via bits and pieces)

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

SADE'S SOLDIER OF LOVE


I like it.

via osalog



via streets of Belgrade

From an article on Chantal Kreviazuk in The Star:

As advocates of War Child Canada, which assists children affected by war, she and Maida walked the talk with the hiring of their nanny of six years, Bibiane Mpoyo of Burundi.

"Living with a war refugee is really intense, it's a risk every day," said Kreviazuk. "And there are days where something inappropriate happens. It's not age appropriate, or I know that she can't leave what's happening back home at the end of the canyon on her way into our house. There's a lot of understanding and patience that has to happen, but what she brings into our lives couldn't be without her experiences and we're gaining something far more valuable than what is being risked."


I don't know if this is supposed to make us realize what giving, humanitarians they are...and that they "walk the talk"...but, what came to MY mind was:

Yes...it must be tough living with a war refugee...
...with all the "wah, wah, wah, I was brutally raped by soldiers", and "boo, hoo, hoo my whole family was slaughtered right before my very eyes" crying jags interfering with the laundry and school pick ups.


Developers building condos on Toronto transit lines will now have to buy every unit a TTC metropass for a year in order to obtain condominium approval from the city, a policy critics say comes at a high cost and without proof people will use it.


No...but, for real...City Council is determined to drive (no pun intended) developers and businesses out of this city.

Councillor Howard Moscoe, however, believes it “will cause people on transit lines to abandon their cars.”

He pushed the initiative forward, which passed council without debate. The policy states the cost of the metropasses cannot be passed on to the condo buyer.


Oh, yeah...I'm sure that will totally be the case.

The TTC has exhausted the rider, our taxes...and now new condo owners, and developers are going to have to throw money into it's bottomless pit of bad management as well.

OMG...I can't believe what a shithole this council is.

Monday, December 07, 2009


"When three white women were said to be romantically involved with Woods in addition to his blonde, Swedish wife, blogs, airwaves and barbershops started humming, and Woods' already tenuous standing among many blacks took a beating."


LOL...yeah, black women are missing out!

GTFOH

Mind you, at the rate that the numbers are racking up for Tiger, pretty soon we might find out that I'm the only woman left on the continent who didn't sleep with him.

Please explain to me why this climate conference couldn't be done in teleconference?

Seriously.

At least 192 delegates, 191 of them flying into Copenhagen to discuss climate change.
WTF?

Saturday, December 05, 2009



I thought this was cute.
When I was little, if I got hurt...whatever hurt me would get a thrashing from my uncle or auntie.
It seems that it's universal.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Wow.

The only thing came to my mind when I saw this picture was:

"...what beauty, ruined by big ass random as shit tattoos"


Hilarious.

Things Jamaicans Love

(Need I say more?)

A morsel from the ramblings section:

"If you spot an elderly lady at the Airport check-in counter in Cayman, with a suitcase the size of a fridge, which she has just “discovered” is 40 pounds overweight, then it’s possible that this lady is Jamaican. If she opens the suitcase to reveal large quantities of cornflakes, cooking oil and flour then she is most likely a Jamaican. If she tries to persuade you to carry her excess baggage to Jamaica in your luggage then she is definitely Jamaican."

Thanks Dillydallian

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Combine this and so many other things that the media gives young women to aspire to...and the growing number of women who grew up in a fatherless household...is it any wonder that so many women make poor choices?

20 things girls learn from twilight

1. If a boy is aloof, stand-offish, ignores you or is just plain rude, it is because he is secretly in love with you — and you are the point of his existence.

2.Secrets are good — especially life-threatening ones.

3. It’s OK for a potential romantic interest to be dimwitted, violent and vengeful — as long as he has great abs.

4. If a boy tells you to stay away from him because he is dangerous and may even kill you, he must be the love of your life. You should stay with him since he will keep you safe forever.

5. If a boy leaves you, especially suddenly (while telling you he will never see you again), it is because he loves you so much he will suffer just to keep you safe.

6. When a boy leaves you, going into shock, losing all your friends and enduring night terrors are completely acceptable occurrences — as long as you keep your grades up.

7. It is extremely romantic to put yourself in dangerous situations in order to see your ex-boyfriend again. It’s even more romantic to remember the sound of his voice when he yelled at you.

8. Boys who leave you always come back.

9. Because they come back, you should hold out, waiting for them for months, even when completely acceptable and less-abusive alternative males present themselves.

10. Even though you have no intention of dating an alternative male who expresses interest in you, it is fine to string the young man along for months. Also, you should use him to fix things for you. Maybe he’ll even buy you something.

11. You should use said male to fix things because girls are incapable of anything mechanical or technical.

12. Lying to your parents is fine. Lying to your parents while you run away to save your suicidal boyfriend is an extremely good idea that shows your strength and maturity. Also, it is what you must do.

13. Car theft in the service of love is acceptable.

14. If the boy you are in love with causes you (even indirectly) to be so badly beaten you end up in the hospital, you should tell the doctors and your family that you “fell down the steps” because you are such a silly, clumsy girl. That false explanation always works well for abused women.

15. Men can be changed for the better if you sacrifice everything you are and devote yourself to their need for change.

16. Young women should make no effort to improve their social skills or emotional state. Instead, they should seek out potential mates that share their morose deficiencies and emotional illnesses.

17. Girls shouldn’t always read a book series just because everyone else has.

18. When writing a book series, it’s acceptable to lift seminal source material and bastardize it \with tired, overwrought teenage angst.

19. When making or watching a major feature film, you should gleefully embrace the 20 minutes of plot it provides in between extended segments of vacant-eyed silence and self-indulgent, moaning banter.

20.Vampires — once among the great villains of literature and motion pictures — are no longer scary. In fact, they’re every bit as whiny, self-absorbed and impotent as any human being.

(stolen from Lyrical Lies)

Friday, November 27, 2009

I'll never understand the obsession with dressing your animals up.
Most of them just look humiliated.



Click on image to see more chagrined dogs

This Weeks' Mama Quotes:

"Hou ken yu say tis to me? I karried yu fo 9 manths...an yu vas HEAVY too!"

"Darlink...I jas vanna tell yu...yu look good. Jas super.......Don get fet"

Move to unionize by employees of a Quebec outlet could not avail themselves of protections under the labour code



Hey, I'm no Wal-Mart fan...but, how would you like to invest in a private business and then have a union come in and tell you how to run it?

Thursday, November 26, 2009



French photographer Jean-François Rauzier has developed the concept of 'hyperphotos' (the 'stitching' together hundreds of enormous high-resolution images).

Click on image to zoom in on the details of that image.

Click here for Rauzier's galleries



via Sober in a Nightclub

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Neil Young Sings Fresh Prince

Thanksgiving Letter to the Family 2009

I can't wait until I'm old enough to get away with morsels like this:

Trudy. If your brother and sister want to come, they can be on time like everyone else. If they are late again this year, they can eat what the dogs don’t finish.

Mary. Your kid’s dirty shoes and my clean sofa have never met. Let’s keep it that way.

via MetaFilter


Is it wrong of me to read that article, and then think of this:

Missing persons under the age of 18 accounted for 614,925 cases. Black children made up of 211,921 (34%) compared with just 25,333 (4%) of whites (including Hispanics). Pretty shocking when you know that the 34% wasn’t being reflected in last year national media. So where’s the news on these missing children? More importantly, why didn’t someone blink an eye about the fact that these missing black children were not accurately represented in the media? Shouldn’t that be call for concern?


...and wonder how many volunteers went out to search for those children.
I feel my stomach churning.


A few days after leaked e-mail messages appeared on the Internet, the U.S. Congress may probe whether prominent scientists who are advocates of global warming theories misrepresented the truth about climate change.

Surprising?
I don't think so.
Climate change, and global warming response is big, big business.


Taking advantage of people's fears has been successful business practice for centuries.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

I don't get the whole Twilight craze, but then...I'm not in high school.

The Oatmeal explains Twilight

Monday, November 23, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

My Parents Were Awesome



Click on image for more.

(via SinPantalones)

Friday, November 20, 2009



This ad was a finalist in the Cannes competition this year.

(Thanks Piika)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Who remembers the Palace on Dundas?



It was just like this....

Michael Jackson Accuser’s Father Commits Suicide


A tormented New Jersey dad, who spent nearly two decades grappling with his son's sensational molestation claims against Michael Jackson, finally ended his pain with a gunshot to the head, authorities said yesterday.

The body of Evan Chandler, 65, the father of Jordan "Jordy" Chandler, was found in his luxury Jersey City apartment on Nov. 5 -- still holding his .38-caliber revolver as he lay in bed, officials said yesterday.


It reads like a Twilight Zone episode.

"Before Lady GaGa took up residence in a spaceship on Planet Weirdo, she performed her signature piano ballads (barefoot, you guys!) at an NYU Talent Show under her boring name, Stefanie Germanotta."



(via buzzfeed)

Pink Glove Dance



"Employees at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland Oregon put together this video to generate breast cancer awareness throughout our hospital system. We had a ton of fun putting this together and hope it inspires others to join in the cause"

I love this kind of stuff.

(Found at Bits and Pieces)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The BBC's Moral Maze radio programme discussed the moral aspects of putting people on trial for war crimes

John Laughland & David Chandler, Sir Geoffrey debate.

"do you think that it matters if your son or daughter has been cold bloodedly murdered as a civilian, whether they were murdered in Sarajevo or Africa, and if we are to take the consideration of victims into mind...people aren't denying war crimes, what they are asking is why was my child or husband cold bloodedly murdered...why is that not genocide? Why is that not a war crime? It's a society based on claims of recognition on an external agenda...and I think that's pretty unhealthy."

Oh, people die..and injustices continue...

(Thanks Anna)


TTC Increase approved.


Adult cash fare will rise to $3 (from $2.75)

I heard Adam Giambrone on TalkRadio defending the increase.
You know that 0.15 of the 0.25 per ride increase will go toward mismanagement and employee costs...it's not going to go toward building anything more, or fixing what's broken.

It's bullshit of the highest order.
How much more shit will the rider take before finding another way to get around?

A woman in France has married her boyfriend of six years - a year after he died.

Magali Jaskiewicz and Jonathan George had planned to wed at their local town hall in November 2008, but he was killed just two days before the ceremony in a motorcycle accident.


Incredibly sad.
I don't know if I could get through a wedding like that...as a guest, much less a bride.

Observation:

These five or so, signs on Allan Road south of Lawrence should really stop bullshitting people, and tell the truth.

The signs should actually read:
"This continent's longest left turn lane"

Monday, November 16, 2009


EMBED-The Wedding Crasher - Watch more free videos

Tell me it isn't an Eastern European wedding...check out Cika (Cheeka) Vladimir to the left...he saw it coming...

What I have learned watching Nigerian movies:

-The scripts have to be written by men.
-Never cross a Nigerian woman.
-You can never have enough hardware or fringes on your clothing.
-Shiny pants? Da bomb.
-You can get anywhere within 10 seconds if someone calls you and tells you to come immediately.
-If you're being thrown out of the house, your bags will already be packed and thrown after you out the door by the time your argument is over.
-It's normal to decide to marry someone after only knowing them for 30 seconds.
-Don't ever call the police to deal with things...get your brothers to handle it.
-If you are arguing with someone, you will eventually have to drop to your knees and beg them.
-Jewish and Slav mothers have nothing on Nigerian mothers when it comes to guilt.
-There is no problem that cannot be solved by having a family meeting.
-If you don't have a leather couch, you're 'old fashioned'.
-If you're anyone at all...you MUST go to England to finish your schooling.
-Always carry your cellphone in your hand.
-Always yell to make a point.

I'm hooked on them....as my friend Vicki says:

"The cinematograhy, unparalleled! And the sets!! f..ing wonderful. Costuming! Genius. But the best is the plot line and character development."



Follow in the sidebar.

Today's Quote:

"Never let the fear of finding out something painful, stop you from gaining the necessary information you require to make the right decision for yourself".

~Unknown~

Scenes from Havana


Click on image for more.

While women readily take on the role of caregiver to their ailing husbands, men struggle with new domestic responsibilities and the greater dependence their wives place on them, the study's authors suggest.

So-called "partner abandonment" can take a major toll on the health of the patient, says Marc Chamberlain, a neurologist at the University of Washington's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the lead investigator of the study.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Good Parenting Advice from BizarroBlog

1. Make sure they know you love them, even when they screw up.

2. Make sure they know their life is their own not yours– if they succeed, the trophy has their name on it, not yours. If they mess up, the mugshot is of them, not you.

3. Don't lie to them. If you tell them that marijuana is as dangerous as crystal meth, they'll eventually figure out that isn't true and discard everything you ever told them. If you act all high and mighty about sex and they find out you lost your virginity at 17, you're sunk.

4. Give them knowledge, then trust them to use it to make their own decisions. Knowledge never hurt anyone who wasn't already going to find a way to get into trouble anyway. Tell them the truth about sex, drugs, politics, religion, history, and then tell them those are just your opinions and you're as fallible as the next guy. In the end, they'll have to weigh that info against their own experiences and make up their own minds.

5. Don't be a hypocritical simple-minded nitwit. Your kids are more likely to be like you than anyone else on the planet. Be the person you want your kids to be.

6. Treat your kid with respect, the way you would want their spouse to treat them one day. If you treat them well, they'll expect that from their friends and lovers. If a guy tries to treat your daughter poorly and she's not used to that at home, she'll kick him to the curb.

7. If all of the above doesn't work and your kid is still a complete jackass, always in trouble, torturing small animals in the basement and stealing from your neighbors, sell him or her to the black market organ trade and get some of your money back. Someone who might contribute positively to society could benefit from a new liver or kidney.

That's all I know, keep in mind I'm not an expert, only a cartoonist. Your results may vary.

Does anyone know how effective today's TTC riders protest was?

Did you refuse to use the TTC to protest the fare hike?

Something really does need to be done.
$2.75 fare for slow service is robbery.

Winchester, a designer who says she set up the protest because of her frustration with passengers' views being ignored, knows that Toronto's transit system receives some of the lowest government funding per ride in North America. But she also believes part of the problem is mismanagement on behalf of the TTC. "Their first reaction to a budget shortfall is usually to put it on the backs of the ridership," Winchester told Torontoist.


Bad management + greedy unions = Screwed passengers

Today's LOL...(NSFW-Language)



(Thanks Juan)



still on the Serbian theme...LOL

(Thanks Anna)

Thursday, November 12, 2009



I don't think I can even express how much I love her...or this song.
When she does it a capella...it tears my heart out

I could be wrong, but I don't think this guy gonna make it.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

How to ask for a Jihad in one easy lesson:

Friday, November 06, 2009

Sunday, November 01, 2009



via bits & pieces

I hate daylight savings time.
I don't see the point.
If we're going to deal with an hour of extra darkness, wouldn't it be preferable at the beginning of the day?
Falling back in the winter just makes it feel so much longer.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween



(photo via Yankee in Belgrade)

We'll be handing out the candy to the kids tonight...we only do it when Halloween falls on a weekend.
That means that I haven't seen rugrats at the door for a very long time.
I'm looking forward to seeing the costumes and cuties.

Thursday, October 29, 2009



Weird.
Kind of creepy...and ambiguous with serious icky leanings.
The kid is androgynous but actually a girl, and also Serge Gainsbourg's (the guy in the video) daughter.

This is the guy who (on live French television, no less) told Whitney Houston that he wanted to fuck her.

Read up on this guys life, and then decide in your own mind whether the video is merely a provocation or a proclamation.

(Thanks Juan)

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

But the pangs of envy still hit very hard from time to time. But I know I'm not alone. I see the signs of envy in my friends' eyes too. A look of deep yearning as they watch their daughters' lithe, bikini-clad bodies on the beach perhaps.

Or a muttered word or two when a daughter borrows a top or dress - and looks a million times better in it.

It doesn't mean love isn't there - but that jealousy is simmering away underneath it.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1222341/I-used-turned-mens-heads-teenage-daughter--makes-SO-jealous.html#ixzz0VHTVVnKL


While the article really only covers the physical aspect of mother/daughter jealousy, there is a deeper and more poignant aspect to it.
There is no denying that things are better for younger people with every generation.
My life is better, with more choices than in my mothers' day, and better still now.

It's the life and times, no?

My grandmother spent her youth in a war. Very few choices.
My mother spent her youth on the cusp of the burning of the bra womens liberation movement. Confused and self-limiting choices because of the way that she was raised.

I don't have a daughter, so I am hard pressed to comment on it from a mother's perspective.

One of the taboos of this society is to perceive mothers as anything less than perfect.

Yet they are.

Some, very imperfect.

Mothers who are jealous of their daughters freedom of choice.
Jealous of their perceived successful marriages.
Jealous of their more prosperous lives.

The interesting thing for me is that women never seem to stop competing with one another.

From the stay at home mom who thinks the working mom is selfish.
To the vapid competition of "hotness"...to the "stealing" of men.

Motherhood doesn't seem to erase that competition.
Although, it's taboo to even think about mothers being anything but selfless.

Friday, October 23, 2009


Hasbro has devised an online, boys-against-girls Trivial Pursuit game "to see if trivia can answer the age-old question:" who's smarter, men or women? We're sure questions about golf and seventies TV shows will resolve this issue for good. [Daily Mail]

I'm hooked now.
Thanks a lot Jezebel.

Monday, October 19, 2009



Honestly.

Her future husband must be a dick too...

Click on image to see Jezebel's links.



"Poor Pebbles. She was such a nice girl. Then she started dancing at the Spearmint Triceratops and everything went to hell."

Lots more via Regretsy .
Thanks DillyDallian

I Laughed...



Small town teenagers around here have Tim Hortons to hang around...Villagers have to make their own fun. LOL.

via I have seeen the whole of the internet

Saturday, October 17, 2009

World's Ugliest Buildings



I'm disappointed that The Ontario College of Art & Design isn't in there...as well as The Royal Ontario Museum...they both should be on that list.

Click on the image to see the rest of the buildings

Thursday, October 15, 2009

The Heene's on Wife Swap...the kid who wasn't in the balloon today:



(I didn't bother with part one because it's just promotion for the program)

Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

...all I can say is that everyone lives differently.
The Heene's live differently than most, with boundaries clearly not playing a huge part in their lives.

Remember when TV used to "sign off" for the night?



I do.

via Popcorn and Sticky Floors

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

When Oprah does it, it isn't sensationalizing. Right?

Jezebel has Oprah interviewing Mike Tyson.