Raiders E-Sports Centre, Toronto, ON

I had lunch today at Raiders E-Sports Centre (on St. Clair Avenue W, just west of Yonge Street).  It's a restaurant/bar catering to e-sports connaisseurs.  I'm not into gaming but thought I'd check it out as it's a restaurant I haven't been to.

I ordered a Diet Coke.  It was basically brown-coloured water and no taste so I asked for a water instead.

I ordered a Chicken Club Sandwich.  I asked for mashed potatoes instead of French fries.

beautybox five - June 2017

September 18, 2017 update:

DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO BEAUTYBOX5!

In February, I had renewed my year membership.  I (along with many others) haven't gotten a box since this June one.  They are not responding to emails, are still taking $$ and owe me 8 boxes!  Shame on them!

According to the BBB, they have gone out of business.

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My June beautybox five arrived today.

Beauty Box 5 is a subscription-based, beauty sampling service that delivers 5 deluxe samples and full-sized products right to your door every month.

Subscriptions are $12US a month or $109US for a year.  Shipping is free ($3/month to Canada).

Here's what I received ...

• Did Hair Jeweled Hair Tie Set - $7.50
• Jessie's Girl Liquid Eyeliner (Violet) - $6.99 value
• Laritzy Lip Pencil (Beau) - $18 value
• Prestige Cosmetics - My Biggest Lashes Mascara  - $7.50 value
• Coastal Scents Revealed 3 Palette - $1 value

Value = $51.84US

The Goose: A Firkin Pub, North York, ON

Gord and I met friends (Alfred and Christine, Craig and Wendy, and Kevin and Rosemary) for supper this evening at the Goose on Leslie Street.  Gord, Alfred, Craig and Kevin have been friends since elementary school and try to get together at least once a month at the Goose.

Book ~ "Revenge of the Nerd: Or ... The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger" (2017) Curtis Armstrong

From Goodreads ~ "Risky Business". "Revenge of the Nerds". "Better Off Dead". "Moonlighting". "Supernatural". "American Dad". "New Girl". What do all of these movies and television shows have in common?

Curtis Armstrong.

A legendary comedic second banana to a litany of major stars, Curtis is forever cemented in the public imagination as Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds". A classically trained actor, Curtis began his incredible 40-year career on stage but progressed rapidly to film and television. He was typecast early and it proved to be the best thing that could have happened.

But there’s more to Curtis’ story than that.

Born and bred a nerd, he spent his early years between Detroit, a city so nerdy that the word was coined there in 1951, and, improbably, Geneva, Switzerland. His adolescence and early adulthood was spent primarily between the covers of a book and indulging his nerdy obsessions. It was only when he found his true calling, as an actor and unintentional nerd icon, that he found true happiness. With whip-smart, self-effacing humor, Armstrong takes us on a most unlikely journey - one nerd’s hilarious, often touching rise to the middle. He started his life as an outcast and matured into ... well, an older, slightly paunchier, hopefully wiser outcast.

In Hollywood, as in life, that counts as winning the game.

I like reading bio/autobios and this one caught my eye because I have seen Revenge of the Nerds a few times so knew who Booger was, which was played by Curtis Armstrong.

This is the author's story.  He was born in Detroit in the early 1950s.  His maternal side is Italian-immigrant working class and his paternal side is American "executive class".  As he was growing up, he was aware there was racial and class hostility between the two families.  His father was transferred to Switzerland for a few years when Curtis was young and they eventually moved back to Detroit.  Curtis became interested in acting and his first love was/is the theatre.

The book starts off with the telling of the author's childhood and then moves on to have a chapter devoted to some of the more well-known things he has done ... movies like Risky Business and Revenge for the Nerds and TV shows such as Moonlighting, Supernatural and The New Girl.  It was interesting to get the behind the scenes scoop of his experiences from his point of view. Some of the things he talked about weren't overly complimentary (like how frisky Tom Cruise was during the shooting of Risky Business and the tensions between Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis during Moonlighting) but he did it in an honest and not mean manner.

For the most part, I liked the writing style and found it amusing.  I think he'd be fun to have a beer with.  I found the book a bit slow in the beginning, though, but thought it picked up with chapter about Revenge of the Nerds and onwards.  The focus is on his career and there is very little about his personal life (his wife and famly).  As a head's up, there is swearing.

Muffin and Crumpet (and Gord and clean laundry)

We've had Crumpet for ten days ... I think she's happy here!

Here are Muffin and Crumpet (and our clean laundry) this morning.

Gord and I went for a long walk this afternoon and he had a nap when we got home ... and he had company (Muffin, Crumpet and clean laundry).

Humber Bay Park East, Toronto, ON

Gord and I went for a walk in Humber Bay Park East this afternoon.   It was warm and sunny ... a great day to be out and we like this park.

We headed towards the water

Book ~ "A Savage Place" (1981) Robert B. Parker

From Goodreads ~ TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. 

Spenser's job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser's skill with his fists, and Candy is about to use her own sweet body as live bait in a deadly romantic game - a game that may cost Spenser his life.

Spenser is a private detective in Boston and has been hired to be a bodyguard for television reporter Candy Sloan in Los Angeles as she investigates a corrupt movie studio.  Candy suspects it's the mob who is behind it.  As they start investigating, people start getting killed.  Spenser tries to convince Candy to go to the police with what she knows but she keeps holding back because she wants to break the story and get the glory to advance in her career.

This is the eighth in the Spenser series (there are currently 46, with the last six written by Ace Atkins after Parker's death in 2010).  I've read many over the years (and have enjoyed the series) and have started reading them from the beginning of the series.  Though it is part of a series, it works as a stand alone.

I wasn't crazy about this book. I didn't find Candy very likable at all and wasn't overly sympathetic when there was violence against her.  I found there were a lot of male characters and was confused as to who was who and what they did and why.  To be honest, I gave up caring and trying to keep them straight.  Plus Spenser cheats on Susan Silverman (who has no presence in this book) but justifies it because there's no emotion involved ... it's just fun ... and she's allowed to do the same.  I found this to be conflicting because in previous books the two of them are always going on about how much they love love love each other.

I liked the writing style, though ... I found it humorous at times.  Spenser is a tough guy with a wisecracking sense of humour.  Though this book was written and is set in 1981, it didn't seem as dated as the earlier ones.  It's written in first person perspective in Spenser's voice.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

World’s Largest Rubber Duck, HTO Park, Toronto

The world’s largest rubber duck arrived in Toronto a couple days ago and will be here until tomorrow.  I walked down to HTO Park (near Queens Quay and Rees Street) this afternoon to check it out.

• Height: 61 feet tall (just over 6 stories) 
• Width: 79 feet wide 
• Length: 89 feet long 
• Weight: 30,000 pounds

Selfie with the duck!

Burgatory, Toronto, ON

I had lunch today at Burgatory on College Street, just east of Crawford Street.  I've walked by it lots of times and this is the first time I've stopped in.

I ordered a Greed Burger, without cheese or onions.  It was a good burger.  The bun was soft, which I like.  The burger is made in-house and there was an eight minute wait for the burger to be cooked, which I didn't mind.  The bourbon BBQ sauce was tasty.  The bacon was crisp and the pickles gave it a nice crunch.

Crumpet and Muffin

When we got home from the Blue Jays game, I found Muffin relaxing in MY spot on the couch.  I had a chat with her and explained how things were.

Crumpet wasn't much help.

Muffin started reaching for Crumpet's back paw so she pulled it in and that's about as involved as she got.

Toronto Wolfpack 64, York City Knights 22, Lamport Stadium, Toronto, ON

Toronto Wolfpack is a Canadian professional rugby league club, based in here in Toronto, which began play in the 2017 League 1 season.  They are notable as being the first Canadian team to play in the Rugby Football League system, the first fully professional rugby league team in Canada and the world's first trans-Atlantic rugby league team.  Their home stadium is Lamport Stadium (aka "The Den"), which is just a couple blocks from where we live.

This evening they were playing the York City Knights.  Seating is general admission (so you can sit where you want) and I sat where we usually sit ... in the middle on the east side.

The Wolfpack's cheerleaders are the She-Wolves and they entertained before the game started.

God Save the Queen and O Canada were sung before the game.

The fireworks were a fun surprise.

Toronto Blue Jays 1, Boston Red Sox 7, Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

It's become a tradition for Gord and I to spend Canada Day at the Toronto Blue Jays game.  We buy our tickets as soon as they go on sale as this game always sells out.

The area around the Rogers Centre was decorated for Canada Day.

Here are Gord and I.

Thanks to my pal, Jen, for the cap!  The first 20,000 ticketholders
 in the door got a free hat (we were too late) and her friend gave us hers.
Total attendance at today's sold-out game was 46, 672.

Jamie Campbell and Gregg Zaun hosts the Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet and got in the spirit of Canada Day!

Happy 150th birthday, Canada!