Flippant Friday: Signs of Insanity

[sabotabby]

People often ask me what I do for fun in Hogtown. After all, the cost of living is high here compared to most other Canadian cities, and we have a reputation for being stodgy and uptight. The subways only run until 1:30 and last call is a ridiculous 2 am. But I find ways to amuse myself. Most of those ways involve wandering around the neighbourhood gawking at the craziness around me.

Like other cities infected with the virus of post-industrial capitalism, public space is always being contested in Toronto. On the one hand, you have billboards and stupid new garbage cans that are actually 12-foot-high advertisements for a website no one cares about. On the other hand, you have some guy's Engrish-laden poster about his lost ferret providing hours of amusement for passersby. Cops and city councillors always want to ban the latter type of graphic communication, but fortunately, they're too apathetic to actually try to ram that kind of legislation through.

So the theme of today's Flippant Friday is Visual Pollution. Lots of photos, low on the snarky commentary 'cause I'm running late.


We had a meeting at OISE last night. There were some great posters
on the walls. We had a good laugh about them. At the bottom left-hand
corner, you'll see a political statement about Cyprus.

Continued below the cut to spare your eyes.



This artist is obviously a Surrealist. Figure it out.



Ooops! How did this get in here? Tony, the manager of Sushi Time, made
us (well, not me) do shots of sake and repeat after him: "What time is it?
SUSHI TIME."



This one is especially for rohmie. I don't know why the Sun
felt the need to put this on the cover. My psyche was scarred enough.



Here's a thought. Say you want to draw people to your political cause. How
about you do it in a way that doesn't involve severed heads, swastikas,
and pictures of Stalin? Yeah, that might work.



Me: "I have to take a picture of your sign."
Him: "Can I be in it?"
Me: "Sure."
Him: "What are you going to do with it?"
Me: "You want the truth? I'm going to put it on my blog."
Him: "Are you going to make fun of me?"
Me: "Not at all."



A close-up of the sign above. You're all invited, by the way. I got invited, but
I'm still not drinking. How come people only want to give me free alcohol
when I'm going through a bout of sobriety?

Comments

[mr-flabulous.livejournal.com]

hehe. i'd get beat up by drunk frat boys but that sign is pure genious.

[sabotabby]

They're co-op kids throwing a frat-boy-themed party. So nah, you wouldn't be beaten up, unless co-op has drastically changed since I was there.

[mr-flabulous.livejournal.com]

i just decided that someday i must host a frat boy-themed party. complete with hazing.

[sabotabby]

I'd come. As a drunk sorority chick.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is one of the most bizarre political flyers I've ever seen, and I've seen alot of them.

[sabotabby]

At first I thought it was a NazBol thing, since they've been skulking about and they like both Stalin and Hitler. And then I read it and realized it was an anti-Tamil thing. Which is not really any better.

[reverendgraham.livejournal.com]

the subways only run until like 12:00 in boston. some of them only run until 11:30 or so. it's really lame.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

I think a couple of the Philadelphia trains run all night (most stop around 1:00) but they're pointless in the first place.

[sabotabby]

I could spend a lot of money on cabs, in that case. I live in staggering distance from a lot of bars, but not necessarily the ones I like to drink at.

[earthlingmike.livejournal.com]

Yup, just one more advantage of good public transportation, being able to drink and not worry about that sort of thing. Well, unless you have money for cabs then I guess it's no big deal.

[threeliesforone.livejournal.com]

one of my co-workers was traumatised by the sun today to. me, however, i can't wait to go to the science centre.

[sabotabby]

I've actually seen it. Read all about my humiliation. It's really gross.

Also, they have disclaimers on the fetuses saying that they weren't aborted. That made me laugh a lot.

[threeliesforone.livejournal.com]

damn. i'd get pregnant on purpose, just to abort it just so it could be in the exhibit. how disappointing!

& i still wanna go. boo.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't bogart: That was my humiliation too. Hell, it was mine first.

[sarars.livejournal.com]

at least those huge ugly trash cans are good for wheatpasted posters!

[sabotabby]

This is true, although it's a good way to get the cops' attention. They know the trash cans aren't gonna be popular, so they're likely to get very protective of them.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Huh, I don't think that's Stalin. I think that's a tamil leader.

[sabotabby]

Oh, probably. But he looks like Stalin, so I'm going to refer to him as such. The Nazi flag doesn't help with the context.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

The subways only run until 1:30 and last call is a ridiculous 2 am.

On the one hand, at least you have subways.

On the other, 2:AM WTF!!!???. In *Louisville*, they close at 4:AM.

Three blocks from where I live there is "The Tavern: Open 22 Hours a Day." They close at four and re-open for breakfast at six; but I don't know if they serve alcohol when they re-open. I have heard that neighborhood drunks wander the streets for two hours after close and come back at six. I do, however, know that the Tavern serves diner-like breakfasts along with standard bar fare the whole time they are open. I detest the Friday and Saturday night karaoke, but otherwise, I love the place. It really represents the neighborhood. There's a good mix of black and white, young and old, student and working class, gay and straight, etc. The local punk / young & aging hipster place is the Magnolia ("Mag-") Bar; but they don't serve food, so into this realm of fat bikers, black Motown-listening working class baby boomers, gay leathermen and 60+ year old drunks comes adult punks and balding Tom Waits and Pixies fans looking to nosh on fare that is cheaper and better than Denny's.

[sabotabby]

Well, we have boozecans that are open illegally past last call. But still, ugh. And the liquor stores aren't open past around 8 or 9, which means that you really need to plan in advance if your idea of a good time is hanging out at someone's house and drinking.

Did I mention that about Ontario? You can only get alcohol from beer or liquor stores. The alternative is anti-union, though, so I'm quite conflicted about it. I'm sure there's a middle ground that will keep the liquor store workers happy and allow at least crap beer in convenience stores.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

And the liquor stores aren't open past around 8 or 9, which means that you really need to plan in advance if your idea of a good time is hanging out at someone's house and drinking.

I much prefer parties to bars. I'm not as social, so I prefer to drink with those I mostly know. Plus, I've never gotten lucky in a bar - but parties are another story ...

[sabotabby]

Hmmm. I find that there's more pressure to be social at parties. So unless it's five folks sitting around someone's living room, I'd rather be out.

I get lucky in bars (and at parties, and at protests...) but unless it's someone I knew from before, it usually ends in Extreme Bad.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I find that there's more pressure to be social at parties. So unless it's five folks sitting around someone's living room, I'd rather be out.

I suppose it depends on the size of the party. Huge parties are definitely out, because they may as well be clubs. The Wobbly party after the conference was an ideal size and type of large party. Too many more people would have been bad and I like the fact that I quasi- already knew everyone. Otherwise, my limit is about ten or fifteen. The music must be turned down enough to have conversations.