Sunday, April 22, 2001
Writing-o-rama-lama-ding-dong
Oh man am I wiped! Over the course of the day I've written just over 5,300 words in 8 articles/reviews for The Computer Paper. More than half of those are book reviews, mostly from the recent pile of books I picked up a few weeks ago at the office. The idea is to "stockpile" reviews for the next couple of issues, so all I need to do is to write another two of my regular Web-Weaving and new Flash Forward columns prior to heading overseas. Oh, me brain hurtz! ;-) Also got started on my taxes today. Joy.
Oh man am I wiped! Over the course of the day I've written just over 5,300 words in 8 articles/reviews for The Computer Paper. More than half of those are book reviews, mostly from the recent pile of books I picked up a few weeks ago at the office. The idea is to "stockpile" reviews for the next couple of issues, so all I need to do is to write another two of my regular Web-Weaving and new Flash Forward columns prior to heading overseas. Oh, me brain hurtz! ;-) Also got started on my taxes today. Joy.
Magic & Bagels
So, on a drizzly day, with wife and child out of town for the weekend, I went in hunt of magic. Headed up to Eglinton and Bathurst to seek out Browser's Den of Magic, which I had been told about the week before by my friend Kirk. I loved doing simple tricks as a kid, and my 3-year-old daughter loved the simple sleight-of-hand tricks I remembered, so since I had the opportunity, I thought I'd go and investigate the place.
Though tucked away at the back of dingy little half-empty plaza on Eglinton, the place itself was a cheery assemblage of tricks, gadgets and aspiring magicians. Spent about a half-hour wandering around the little shop, taking everything in. There are a couple of small bookcases at the front containing books on simple tricks to the lives of great magicians, a wall covered with tricks, magic sets and gags, "used" magic props at the back, and glass cases containing ranges of specific small props for such things as coin and card tricks. Behind the people serving the store are the more expensive (or at least, sizable) props, such as magic inter-connecting 
rings, finger-guillotines, copper bowls (for making things disappear), "magic" pop and ketchup bottles, jumbo-sized playing cards (and related props). There's also jugglers and clown supplies at the store, so if you need special juggling balls, a red clown nose or a rubber chicken, you can find those here too. At the store was an adult and two boys (tweens, I'd say), who all did various tricks for the people in the store. One boy was doing card tricks (that he was obviously still learning, the other boy by the cash was showing of sleight-of-hand tricks, and the man (presumably the owner) turned down the lights at one point and did a very good performance of the D'Lite trick. 
I ended up coming away with a bunch of small tricks ("The Spiked Coin", "Coin Con", "Egg Vase" and am "Imp Bottle"), plus "Deland's Deck of Magic Cards" and a book on Coin Magic. The tricks are all pretty simple, and ought to amuse Vanessa -- and heck, will be fun for me to do. I'm going to have to do a fair bit study and practice to be able to master the card tricks (though I know enough now to play a mean game of poker -- okay, maybe cribbage is more likely -- with the deck. Had a lot of child-like fun at the shop, and after seeing some Dad's who had obviously brought in their respective kids for a brief, free magic show, I think I'll have to do the same and bring Vanessa here some day.
After that, I headed to the St. Lawrence Market to pick up some bagels, and to find maple syrup as gifts for various relatives when we visit Britain next month. Got there rather late in the day, which meant that all of the bagels at St. Urban Bagels were gone -- save for the ones that they were still making on the spot. So I ended up getting a couple dozen insanely-fresh bagels. I also managed to buy a half-dozen plastic bottles of good-quality maple syrup from a vendor in the North Market who was just shutting down his shop as I came by -- the bottles I got were dug out of a box buried in his van, so I was lucky not to get there a few minutes later. Cheesily Canadian I know, but I am also planning on bringing some Icewine as well... ;-)
So, on a drizzly day, with wife and child out of town for the weekend, I went in hunt of magic. Headed up to Eglinton and Bathurst to seek out Browser's Den of Magic, which I had been told about the week before by my friend Kirk. I loved doing simple tricks as a kid, and my 3-year-old daughter loved the simple sleight-of-hand tricks I remembered, so since I had the opportunity, I thought I'd go and investigate the place.
Though tucked away at the back of dingy little half-empty plaza on Eglinton, the place itself was a cheery assemblage of tricks, gadgets and aspiring magicians. Spent about a half-hour wandering around the little shop, taking everything in. There are a couple of small bookcases at the front containing books on simple tricks to the lives of great magicians, a wall covered with tricks, magic sets and gags, "used" magic props at the back, and glass cases containing ranges of specific small props for such things as coin and card tricks. Behind the people serving the store are the more expensive (or at least, sizable) props, such as magic inter-connecting rings, finger-guillotines, copper bowls (for making things disappear), "magic" pop and ketchup bottles, jumbo-sized playing cards (and related props). There's also jugglers and clown supplies at the store, so if you need special juggling balls, a red clown nose or a rubber chicken, you can find those here too. At the store was an adult and two boys (tweens, I'd say), who all did various tricks for the people in the store. One boy was doing card tricks (that he was obviously still learning, the other boy by the cash was showing of sleight-of-hand tricks, and the man (presumably the owner) turned down the lights at one point and did a very good performance of the D'Lite trick. I ended up coming away with a bunch of small tricks ("The Spiked Coin", "Coin Con", "Egg Vase" and am "Imp Bottle"), plus "Deland's Deck of Magic Cards" and a book on Coin Magic. The tricks are all pretty simple, and ought to amuse Vanessa -- and heck, will be fun for me to do. I'm going to have to do a fair bit study and practice to be able to master the card tricks (though I know enough now to play a mean game of poker -- okay, maybe cribbage is more likely -- with the deck. Had a lot of child-like fun at the shop, and after seeing some Dad's who had obviously brought in their respective kids for a brief, free magic show, I think I'll have to do the same and bring Vanessa here some day.
After that, I headed to the St. Lawrence Market to pick up some bagels, and to find maple syrup as gifts for various relatives when we visit Britain next month. Got there rather late in the day, which meant that all of the bagels at St. Urban Bagels were gone -- save for the ones that they were still making on the spot. So I ended up getting a couple dozen insanely-fresh bagels. I also managed to buy a half-dozen plastic bottles of good-quality maple syrup from a vendor in the North Market who was just shutting down his shop as I came by -- the bottles I got were dug out of a box buried in his van, so I was lucky not to get there a few minutes later. Cheesily Canadian I know, but I am also planning on bringing some Icewine as well... ;-)
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