Big turnout at the Dragon Pearl this afternoon for the Anime North Staff Xmas Brunch.

Ice is in at Christie Put rink.

Not a stamp collector but I'm collecting these!

At Zine Dump, a new zine show at the Cecil Community Center

Excellent turnout at Bakka-Phoenix books today for the launch of YEARS BEST Canadian FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, VOL 3.

Hello darkness my old friend... I guess it must be 5 PM...

Come one, come all! Join us for the launch of Year's Best Canadian F&SF Volume 3 this Saturday, Nov 8 at Bakka-Phoenix @ 3pm. Ten contributors will be doing brief readings from their work and the fine folks at @bakkaphoenix.bsky.social will have copies for sale. See you there and pls share WIDELY.

At the corner of Avenue and Bloor, the cops had closed the intersection and they escorted a bus through. One of the cops said it was the Dodgers.

Historian Serhii Plokhy at the Festival of Authors talking about his new book on the proliferation of nuclear weapons during the Cold War, which unfortunately seems topical again. His books on the Cuban Missile Crisis and Chernobyl are amazing.

At TYPE books last night to see Cory Doctorow talk about his book ENSHITTIFICATION, about why the internet and nearly everything else is now sh*t and what we can do about it. Something I'm doing is signing up as a supporter of OPENMEDIA.CA because Cory recommended it (there are worse reasons!)

Just got a COVID booster and the flu shot.

Attended the Christie Cross Cyclocross races at Christie Pits this afternoon. Perfect (if cool) weather. Besides the men's and woman's races there were amateur and fixie races, and even one on the city commuter bikes. Wish we had more races in Ontario but there's no sponsorship or gov support.

Attended the Anti-Hate protest opposing a Canada First rally this morning at the north end of Queen's Park. Missed the one at Christie Pits last month (I was out of town) and really wanted to make this one.

My friend Christine is a biochemist, and she was an early victim of the US science cuts, losing her research position in Boston. She's now gotten a position at U of Ottawa, researching using microbes to mine minerals. Good for her and this country.

Great day for a bike ride. It's the time of year when every long weekend ride might be my last until spring, as the weather might turn cold at any time.

Saw Bryan Adams Friday night (please excuse the crappy picture). He was in fine form, it was a great show. "Hi, I'm Bryan. I'm going to perform as many songs as I can remember."

Great article from THE INVISIBLE EVENT for mystery writers / readers on how to hide clues in plain sight.

Really good article about how the mainstreaming of fan culture has lead to increasing corporate control of it.

Tremendous story from THE LOCAL about the harassment Chinese students at Canadian universities are under from their own government.

Tis the season of the University of Toronto college book sales, at the Victoria College sale.

In Quebec City for the Grand Prix Cycle Race, 18 laps through the old city and the Plains of Abraham. Lots of big names here.

It would be nice if all those articles on Charlie Kirk would mention he was a racist and white supremacist instead of just saying he was a "free speech advocate".

Toronto, ON mayoral. I'll try to be polite, and put it this way: I've seen stories like this about John making political decisions *for most of my career, and I'm old.* Example: in the 2010 race John was in and out and in and out. 58 sources were granted anonymity - www.thestar.com/news/gta/if-...

Well, it looks like my company has been sold. What does this mean? Who knows! Guess I'll find out.

Canadians! There is a petition to sign to protest Mastercard and Visa's control over the purchase of legal adult content. This is specifically about the Steam & itchio situation, but language protects adult creators. www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en... #nsfw #censorship #canpoli @acvalens.net

Been a long time since my university orientation days.

At the Fox to see Chow Yun Fat's CITY ON FIRE (1987) which I have not seen in a *long* time. I just wish the Fox wasn't such a slog from my place.

Just finished a 75km ride (with 500m of climbing) from Aldershot through Dundas Valley, back along the Brantford rail trail, through Hamilton, up the Hamilton Beach Trail to Burlington go. Hamilton has more and better bike lanes than I was expecting.

There is little more frustrating then setting up an engineering simulation, having it run with no issues up to 98.4%, and then crap out for no clear reason.

Took a vacation day (they've told me I have to use some up or else) and took the GO to Hamilton and rode the Chippewa Trail to Caledonia and back. Nice gravel trail, rough in spots with a lot of shade and a few dodgy road crossings. Going up the escarpment is no fun but coming down it is.

If you want to commemorate Terence Stamp, both THE LIMEY and THE HIT are available on Tubi.

In the mail today I got an Economist, two New Scientist's, a Skeptical Inquirer, and a Canadian Geographic. This ought to keep me going for a while.

This guy was just perched on the fence at the bus stop I was waiting at last night. He stared at me for about a minute before moving off, which is odd behavior for a raccoon.

Do you wish something like NYC's Summer Streets could be brought back to Toronto? Then please sign and share the petition urging @mayoroliviachow.ca & City Council to do so by 2026 as over 600 people have done! #BikeTO #WalkTO #ActiveTO #OpenStreetsTO #TOpoli tinyurl.com/openstreetsp...

I can't believe it. Actual good news!

REALLY enjoyed FANTASTIC FOUR, it was everything I wanted in a superhero movie. And this isn't the theatre I saw it in, but it is fitting.

Anyone have a less-picky dog?

Saw DOG DAY AFTERNOON this evening at the Revue Cinema, a 50th anniversary screening and part of their HEAT WAVE series of sweaty summer films (which is hilarious as DDA was actually shot in November). Still my favorite Al Pacino role, one of the greatest films of the 70s.

The new SUPERMAN is great. Gunn absolutely understands the character, a good man who wants to do good, and he doesn't think that that is silly. The film feels like it actually exists in the DC Comics universe (superheros have been a thing long before Superman for example).

Tech Guy: I have attained immortality! Me: Wow, you figured out how to stop aging? Tech Guy: No, I trained an AI on my emails to create a perfect copy of my personality. Then I uploaded it into a robot dog with M3GAN’s face. It will live forever Robot: As a businessman I often schedule meetings

The Alberta Separatist Party got clobbered in three Alberta by-elections, but Danielle Smith still seems determined to give them a leg up.

Man, I love this film so much. See it at the Revue on the 16th.

According to the CBC Climate Dashboard, we are due to set 117 new temperature records today, which seems like a lot.

GET YOUR WAR ON by the great David Rees, nearly 24 (!) years ago. www.mnftiu.cc/category/gyw...

An interesting article from The Economist on the decline of the birth preference for boys worldwide and the possible increase in preference for girls in the industrialized world.

Elsa Lam continues to prove & document how corrupt & full of lies the Doug Ford closure of the science centre was & is. Read & share widely - not that it matters in Ontario, a province that seems ok w a high level of this. www.canadianarchitect.com/draft-engine...

My first long ride of the year, great weather for it.

So I wonder how much of this "election on the third ballot" comes from the cardinals needing to get back on their phones.

Saw SECRET MALL APARTMENT at the Lightbox last night. A group of artists build a livable apartment in an "in-between" space in a shopping mall and use it for four years. Wonderful look at living life as art and its importance, and the need to push back against gentrification. Highly recommended.

I really want this to happen, would make cycling day trips to Niagara so much easier.