McNally Robinson Booksellers in Toronto

Jeff and I wanted to go to Cafe Pleiade for our anniversary (it's my favourite restaurant in Toronto) but sadly, it's closed on Mondays. We still plan a celebratory dinner there sometime soon, but we decided to instead go book browsing at the Shops At Don Mills, a new shopping area in Toronto.

McNally Robinson is is an independent bookseller with other stores in Winnipeg, New York City, Saskatoon. I love this store, and not just because they carry some of my Blush cards:



Nice layout and inviting atmosphere, not too cluttered but not warehouse-y, either. I love the alcove organization along the outside walls -- it reminded me of the University of Toronto upstairs bookstore, except friendlier. Great kids' and teen book sections! I picked up copies of my sister's newly released Chicken, Pig, Cow On The Move plus Skinned by Robin Wasserman.

I signed up for their Reader Reward, which costs $25 for the first year ($15 for renewals) and gets me a 10% discount on books as well as food in the second-floor Prairie Ink Restaurant. PLUS Jeff gets a card for free.



We had dinner in the restaurant. I opted for their whitefish sandwich, and it was excellent:



The menu had much more choice and better fare than the typical cafe you find in bookstores. I've heard that Toronto literati are already starting to meet here for meetings as well as pleasure. The walls are lined with pictures of famous Canadian authors and literary quotes. There's an outdoor patio, if you feel like eating outdoors.

My new Reader Reward card entitled me to a free hot beverage, but I forgot to use it. Ah well...all the more excuse for coming back. Like I -need- an excuse. :-)



McNally Robinson Booksellers
The Shops at Don Mills
Toronto, ON
(416)384-0085

Hours
Monday to Thursday
9 a.m.- 10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday
9 a.m.- 11 p.m.
Sundays
11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Toronto Garbage Strike Begins...

The Toronto municipal workers' strike has begun, and Toronto-types are all crossing their fingers in hopes that a settlement can be reached soon, especially with the upcoming warm weather (see forecast below). I was inspired to doodle the cartoon above after reading a Toronto Star article about how the strike is affecting the operation of kid-friendly venues.



Thanks so much to my dad for taking some our trash out to the suburbs with him...on Father's Day! Now that's true parental love. Cooking with my dad was fun; I'll try to post some pics soon. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Do you want to be in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade?

Photo by Walter.

My Marcher application arrived recently, but I'm not interested in participating this year (I had a ton of fun last year, though!). If anyone out there is interested in being a Marcher in this year's parade, please let me know ASAP and I'll mail you the form. Deadline for applications is June 1st, and marching positions are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm at the Lula Lounge in Toronto

As Jeff said last night, it was the best concert we've seen in several years.

It was the first time either of us had been to Lula Lounge. Nice venue, though the whole dinner seating vs regular seating was a bit confusing. The tickets say "Dinner reservations guarantee best seating," but this isn't necessarily true.

The best seats, IMHO, are the small tables right in front of the stage, perfect for couples. If you're a larger group with a dinner reservation, you'll be put in the booths against the far walls at either side of the restaurant. You'll still see the performers, of course, but this isn't the best seating.

The non-dinner seating is behind the small tables in front of the stage, and appears to given out on a first-come, first-served basis on the night of the performance. If I'm wrong about this, someone feel free to let me know. Also, those with dinner reservations still have to line up with everyone else.

It seemed to me that the dinner tables were given out on a first-come, first-serve basis (e.g. you don't have a specific table, no matter how early in advance you book), though I might be wrong about this. Also, be sure to confirm your reservation closer to the performance date! I called the day before and found out that they had NO RECORD of my dinner reservation. Fortunately they still had room for more dinner reservations, and our seating was good -- Jodi, James, Jeff and I had a table for four near the railing. After dinner, Jodi and I moved our chairs up to the railing so we had a better view of the stage.



Paul and Storm opened for Jonathan Coulton as well as performing a few songs with him in his set. They were HIGHLY entertaining, and their harmonies and arrangements were great, plus they had a wide variety of material. You can hear samples of their material on their website.

One of my favourites: Nun Fight. :-D

Also love the fact that they obviously knew the crowd ("Ok, now yell 'argh' PI times!" (pause as audience responds without hesitation) "Wow, that really WAS 3.14159265 times...")

Jeff liked them so much that he bought all three of their CDs plus one of their Evil Minion t-shirts.



Next up: Jonathan Coulton. I was sooooo excited to finally see him perform live, and I wasn't disappointed. I had a mental list of songs that I fervently hoped he would sing, and HE SANG EVERY ONE OF THEM IN HIS SET, WOOHOO!



His set included: The Future Soon, Shop Vac, Still Alive, Curl, Code Monkey, My Monkey, Birdhouse In Your Soul, Creepy Doll, I'm Your Moon, I Feel Fantastic, Mr. Fancy Pants, Skullcrusher Mountain, Mandelbrot Set, You Ruined Everything, Re: Your Brains, Betty & Me, First of May, plus a number of others I can't recall right now. Some of the songs were requests that people had sent him on Twitter after he had asked what people wanted to hear.

I love the amazing effects gizmo he was playing during Mr. Fancy Pants, and especially how he played it; he was obviously having a lot of fun. :-)

Jonathan called up Paul and Storm on several songs, and the arrangements/harmonies were fantastic. I especially enjoyed the rapport between the three of them.



To those who are seeing him (and Paul and Storm!) tonight: You're in for a treat.

Seeing Jonathan Coulton at the Lula Lounge tonight!

Woohoo! Jeff and I are meeting Jodi and James at the Lula Lounge tonight to see Jonathan Coulton perform. I've never seen Coulton live, so I'm pretty excited. Thanks to Tom Jeffers for giving me the heads-up about this show -- he and others are going to see it this weekend.

Paul and Storm will be opening for him. From their JoCopedia page: "Paul Sabourin and Greg 'Storm' DiCostanzo are an Arlington, Virginia-based comedic musical duo. They had formerly been half of the a cappella group Da Vinci's Notebook. When that group went on hiatus the two struck out on their own, with Paul playing keyboard and penny whistle and Storm on the guitar. " You can find out more about them on their blog.

I got hooked on Jonathan Coulton's songs after hearing Tony Fabris perform Skullcrusher Mountain at a filk convention.

By the way, don't you think Coulton bears an uncanny resemblance to my friend Rand (posing with Jodi) in the photo below?



Anyway, I've been posting some of my favourite Jonathan Coulton tunes on my Blip.fm account. Plus I'll include a few here:







Less than 12 hours to go!