resistance to persistence

Walking my usual route this morning, I cut through Berczy Park by the Flatiron building on Front Street. I saw a bunch of film crew gear setting up, which is never a surprise in Toronto, but always interesting to watch. Reflectors were being setup, a camera was being mounted on a large boom arm. But no lighting yet. Usually there’s a lot of lighting setup and that got me interested to as I was walking past, I kept looking around. And then I spotted something very interesting in yellow and red.

I watch Amazing Race a lot. I love seeing the challenges, travelling the world, and reality tv in general. So I have the sight of the yellow and red checkpoint markers burned in my retinas. And that’s exactly what I saw today when I passed the park.

Amazing Race is in Toronto

The box has a lock on it. I think it’s probably so that the word doesn’t get out on who’s left in the game before the episodes are aired or where the next destination is. I’m sure there’s betting pools out there and information like that could come in handy.

I might wander back to the park at lunch time and see if anything else is happening. Here’s the map location.

I’ve posted a larger version of the image on Flickr.

UPDATE: I went back later the same day and the post was there, but no cameras. Interesting…Is Phil hiding in the bushes with the camera crew? Nope. There was a sign on the box that revealed it wasn’t the tv show, but a local adventure company running a “team building” event based on the Amazing Race concept. Run around Toronto gathering clues and your company will work better together.

Was it just a funny coincidence? J and I were driving to the mall a couple of weeks ago and I put on a comedy album from one of my favorite comedians, Mitch Hedberg, who has sadly passed away and will not be providing us with any more funny.

One of his routines is about an escalator. I’ll try to recount it as best as I remember. If you don’t know Mitch’s work, imagine it being performed by a stoned hippy kinda dude.

I like an escalator, man, ’cause an escalator can never break.
It can only become stairs.
There would never be an “Escalator Temporarily Out of Order” sign, only “Escalator Temporarily Stairs.
Sorry for the Convenience.”

I’m not making this up…shortly after we arrived in the mall, I saw this and burst out laughing. I ran to get J and we both said the joke out loud to each other and started laughing.

it wouldn’t have been as funny if i hadn’t just heard a joke about it

---

Then today, I saw the bumper on this news truck, which is thankfully bragging about its slightly more environmentally friendly ability. And as I read it, I kept hearing Borat’s voice in my head. This green truck is black not. No…not quite. This green truck is black. [pause] [pause] [pause] [pause] Not.

This green truck is black not