Acoustic storyteller Dan Schaumann returns with his latest musical release, I Wish I Lived In Canada, available on all major streaming platforms. Having cut his musical teeth on the sidewalks and bars of Townsville and Brisbane, Dan followed his heart to the UK and later to Canada where he’s resided since 2013. From lost love to found feet, toppled dreams to open doors, Dan’s attitude to life is as infectious as the songs he draws from it. His artistic creations speak of an extraordinary journey into the experiences of a contemporary traveler.

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Check out my video about this fantastic adventure!

In August 2024 I embarked upon the longest one-day biking challenge I’ve ever done – a 200km trip from Montréal, QC to Ottawa, ON!

Previously, the longest one-day cycle I’d achieved was 164km. It had been on my cards to attempt the double century for a while, and I had my eyes firmly set on the route from my current home in Quebec’s largest city to the nation’s capital in the neighbouring province.

Armed with a pannier of essentials, a bottle of water, my Go Pro and a rough route I’d devised on Google Maps, I set off at 4am, the morning after Montréal had suffered from a rough wind storm and downpour. Despite the day’s forecast appearing sunny, the city roads remained damp and puddled in the pre-dawn; the Lachine Canal bike path bearing the brunt of fallen branches, and indeed, an entire tree blocking the way.

I’m lucky I saw the tree and broke in time… this could have been a nasty accident.

I was familiar with the approximately 40km route off Montréal Island, having made the ride a couple of dozen times in the past, but I’d certainly never cycled it so early. By the time I crossed the Sainte-Anne bridge onto L’Île-Perrot, the sun had well & truly come out of hiding. Heading north towards the suburb of Vaudreuil-Dorion, I found myself in new cycling territory which I was eager to explore.

The stunning morning view of the Lake of Two Mountains.
A serene field I passed just outside the town of Hudson, QC.

Stopping briefly in the quaint town of Hudson, QC, it was still too early for any cafés to be open. I hungrily continued along Rue Main and Chemin de l’Anse to the next major town of Rigaud, where I downed a hearty breakfast at Chez 4’s.

According to Google Maps, Rigaud was where I’d finally be able to exit the road and get myself onto a dedicated rail corridor-turned bike trail, which would take me almost all the way to Ottawa. This was the section of the ride I was looking forward to the most. Every rail trail I’d cycled in Ontario over the years had been a fantastic experience, and I expected no less from this one.

The beginning of the trail at Rigaud on an old railway bridge – or so I thought!

Unfortunately, I soon realized something wasn’t quite right. In the space of a few hundred metres, the trail shifted from railway bridge to gravel to thick, puddly sludge, ultimately leading me to an overgrown dead end. Referring back to my navigation source in a state of confusion, I was confident I was on the right track, but perhaps this section of the trail just wasn’t open at the moment, or not properly maintained at this time of year?

Challenging times navigating the trail at Rigaud.

Some googling eventually led me onto the website of the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail, which I wish I’d discovered before my journey began. Apparently the trail I was looking for didn’t start until the town of St-Eugène, about 10km west of Rigaud, just past the Ontario border. With this newfound information in mind, I pedalled my muddy bike back onto the regional road and into the slow but peaceful St-Eugène. Here I found the true beginning of this fabulous path.

*Note: I’ve since heard from Eric Collard, Executive Director of the Prescott-Russell Trail, who told me that – all going well – the trail from Rigaud to St-Eugène should be paved by spring 2025!

The beginning of my trail experience, just outside St-Eugène.

From here on, I was in cycling heaven. The skies had turned perfectly blue, the wind had died down and the temperature hovered around a comfortable 27ºC. The trail was in very good condition – mostly hard-packed gravel, with occasional paved sections – and I was impressed by the shelters (including toilets, maps and picnic tables) dotted along the path every 15-20 kilometres. I wish these kinds of facilities existed along all long-distance bike trails.

The Vankleek Hill Pavilion.
Does a bike ride get much more stunning than this?

Along the the trail, I happened to pass a tiny grass snake sunning himself on the pebbles (nothing to be frightened of – I was impressed to see such wildlife!), bridges over gorgeous creeks and tributaries, the site of the historic Caledonia Springs train station, old railway infrastructure, countless farmyards, fields, cows, trailside lakes, scores of happy fellow cyclists & pedestrians, and I stopped briefly in the town of Plantagenet to pick up an energy boost at the local convenience store.

A section of actual railway along the rail trail.
Caledonia Springs Station, the site of a prestigious spa that tourists would flock to in the early 20th century.
It was tempting to take a dip in this creek.

The route continued southwest out of Plantagenet, through the towns of Bourget and Hammond. I stopped briefly in Hammond to celebrate my 165th kilometre – from here on, it was the furthest distance I’d travelled in a day by bike.

Hammond signified the end of the 72km Prescott-Russell trail and the beginning of the next trail which led me to Orleans, just outside Ottawa. After an impressive 85km total of dedicated bike trail, I made a right onto Anderson road and revelled in the fact that I was entering suburbia again, barely a dozen kilometres from my destination.

Power lines! Getting closer to civilization.
The outskirts of Ottawa.

Finally, after 205 kilometres, 686 metres climbed, nearly 12 hours of riding time, and over 14 hours of elapsed time, I arrived at Parliament Hill, Ottawa! You can’t believe how exhausted yet enraptured I was to finally complete this challenge, in front of one of the most recognizable buildings in the country. What a day!

I made it to Parliament Hill!

Altogether it was a wonderful bike trip which I’d wholeheartedly recommend to any cyclist who feels like they have 200km in them. If the whole city-to-city distance isn’t your cup of tea, you could cut the route short by taking the Exo Train between Hudson & Montreal, or you could simply do a section of the trail by bike or on foot – there are many carparks along the way that offer easy access.

For more information about the trail itself, including maps, activities, accommodations and restaurant ideas, be sure to visit the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail official website.

And for more sights, sounds and stories about this adventure – including the ridiculous drama I faced the next day driving back to Montréal – please check out the video I published on YouTube.

For those who are interested, you can see the full route I took at Strava.

The Strava route.

Happy cycling, and let me know in the comments below if you do this trip!

Maybe I’ll take on 300km next year?

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Way back in 1998, at the youthful age of 14, I heard a song on CMT, the chorus of which embedded deeply into my memory. The words, as I remember, still ring clear to me today:

Love is like a cane fire
Your love is like a cane fire at night
Love it like a cane fire
Sugar burning, sugar burning

Unfortunately I didn’t catch any details of the band, but I figured it wouldn’t be so difficult to track down. Boy… how wrong could I have been? I never imagined it would lead me on a 25 year-long quest.

Finally, after two and a half decades of repeated googling, asking radio stations, flicking through countless CD’s at record stores, searching all over the web in online forms and social media, I managed to track it down!

This is the story of how I was reunited with Cane Fire by Strum. Written by Timo Tolvanen (a.k.a. Tim Withano), and produced by Glenn Heaton, it was released in 1997 on Strum’s EP, Distant Rain.

I hope you enjoy Cane Fire as much as I do.

You can find more info about Tim Withano here:

Tim’s Website
Spotify
YouTube
Facebook
Instagram

And thanks also to Daimon Martin for the footage of the cane fire! Find him around the web here:

Instagram
TikTok

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On November 11th, 2023, I went on the 2.5 hour journey from Montréal to St Johnsbury, Vermont, to visit the Dog Chapel at Dog Mountain.

I’d heard about it recently via an article at Atlas Obscura. It’s a shrine atop a small hill, built in 2000 by Stephen Huneck, who was involved in a near-death experience in the mid-90’s. During his recovery he thought long and hard about the rituals surrounding death: why did we put so much importance in funeral ceremonies for humans, but not as much in similar ceremonies for our dearly departed furry friends? From these humble reflections he devised the idea of the Dog Chapel. Over the course of three years and with thanks to a generous donation from a local dog-loving couple, he built the chapel adjacent to his art gallery on his farm, Dog Mountain, in the Vermont countryside.

Huneck opened his property to the public, inviting anyone who had lost a pet to leave a photo on the chapel walls in their memory, and allowing anyone with a pup to enjoy the serenity of the mountain, free from leashes. Dogs of all creeds and breeds are welcome here! Sadly, Huneck took his own life in 2010, and his beloved wife Gwendolyn died three years afterwards, but his legacy lives on through the Friends Of Dog Mountain non-profit organization. Dog Mountain remains a staple New England attraction today.

In April 2023, my parent’s beloved English Staffy, Coco, passed the rainbow bridge after a long and joyful 14 years & four months with us on this planet. As soon as I heard about the Dog Chapel, I knew I had to pay a visit in tribute to our dear Coco.

So that’s exactly what I did, and I took some pics and video along the way to share with you:

The Dog Chapel, atop Stephen Huneck’s Dog Mountain
The pic I left on the walls of the chapel of our dear Coco
I added some photos to the album as well
Can you spot the imposters?!
Coco Tam, 2009-2023. We miss you!

Dog Mountain can be found at:

143 Parks Rd
Saint Johnsbury, VT 05819

For more details and opening hours, go to https://www.dogmt.com/

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I matched the postcodes of the Townsville region with the vegetables linked to their corresponding price lookup codes and made a soup out of it!

Townsville, North Queensland, is my home town, but these days I live on the other side of the world in Canada – the chilly city of Montréal, to be specific. I miss the warmth of my home town quite a lot, to the point that sometimes I embark on silly but adventurous little projects to help bring Townsville a little closer to me. For example, a few years ago, I rode my bike 200km through Ontario, from Toronto to Brantford and back, just to visit Townsville Court, a small street in a suburban neighbourhood:

More recently, I had an idea to match the postcodes of the Townsville region with the vegetables linked to their corresponding price lookup codes, and make a soup out of it.

What exactly did this entail? Well, firstly, let’s talk of Australian postcodes. All postcodes in the country have 4 digits and generally speaking, each state and territory has a range of 1000 postcodes assigned to its various locations. For example, Western Australia postcodes follow 6xxx format. Queensland postcodes are all 4xxx. When we look specifically at the Townsville region, local postcodes start at 4810 and extend through to 4819:

Here is the full list of Townsville-region postcodes, according to Australia Post:

POSTCODESUBURB
4810BELGIAN GARDENS, CAPE CLEVELAND, CASTLE HILL, NORTH WARD, PALLARENDA, RAILWAY ESTATE, ROWES BAY, SHELLY BEACH, SOUTH TOWNSVILLE, TOWN COMMON, TOWNSVILLE, TOWNSVILLE CITY, TOWNSVILLE DC, TOWNSVILLE MC, WEST END
4811CLUDEN, IDALIA, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY, MOUNT STUART, OAK VALLEY, OONOONBA, ROSENEATH, STUART, WULGURU, 
4812CURRAJONG, GULLIVER, HERMIT PARK, HYDE PARK, MUNDINGBURRA, MYSTERTON, PIMLICO, ROSSLEA, 
4813TOWNSVILLE MILPO
4814AITKENVALE, ANNANDALE, CRANBROOK, DOUGLAS, GARBUTT, GARBUTT EAST, HEATLEY, MOUNT LOUISA, MURRAY, THURINGOWA DC, VINCENT
4815CONDON, GRANITE VALE, GUMLOW, KELSO, PINNACLES, RASMUSSEN, 
4816ALLIGATOR CREEK, BALGAL BEACH, BARRINGHA, BROOKHILL, CALCIUM, CARRUCHAN, CLEMANT, CRYSTAL CREEK, CUNGULLA, ELLERBECK, GREENVALE, HOMESTEAD, JULAGO, KENNEDY, MAJORS CREEK, MALPAS-TRENTON, MINGELA, MOUNT ELLIOT, MUTARNEE, NOME, PALM ISLAND, PALUMA, PENTLAND, RAVENSWOOD, REID RIVER, ROLLINGSTONE, ROSS RIVER, SAVANNAH, SELLHEIM, TOOMULLA, TOONPAN, TORRENS CREEK, WOODSTOCK
4817ALICE RIVER, BOHLE PLAINS, HERVEY RANGE, KIRWAN, RANGEWOOD, THURINGOWA CENTRAL
4818BEACH HOLM, BLACK RIVER, BLUE HILLS, BLUEWATER, BLUEWATER PARK, BOHLE, BURDELL, BUSHLAND BEACH, COSGROVE, DEERAGUN, JENSEN, LYNAM, MOUNT LOW, MOUNT ST JOHN, SAUNDERS BEACH, SHAW, TOOLAKEA, YABULU
4819ARCADIA, FLORENCE BAY, HORSESHOE BAY, MAGNETIC ISLAND, NELLY BAY, PICNIC BAY, WEST POINT

Now, price lookup codes, or PLU’s. You know when you buy fruit or vegetables from the grocery store and they have that little sticker on them with a 4- or 5-digit number? For example, a banana is usually marked with a 4011 label. That’s a price lookup code. It’s an internationally-administered and recognized numbering system that identify all the different types of fresh produce available at grocery stores worldwide. A PLU is specific to a commodity and can also be specific to its variety, size, and region of production.

And as it happens, the 4011 PLU of a banana corresponds with the postcode of Clayfield, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane a little north of the city. Once I made the correlation between PLU’s and Australian postcodes, I began wondering to myself: would the postcodes of my home town match up with a fruit or vegetable item?

I researched a little, and indeed they did!

PLUPRODUCT
4810Bunched or banded turnips
4811Purple-top turnip
4812White turnip
4813Retailer-assigned turnip
4814Water chestnuts
4815Watercress
4816Golden sweet potato
4817Sweet potato with red or orangy-red flesh
4818Retailer-assigned sweet potato
4819Cassava

And this, my friends, made up the list of ingredients for Townsville Soup! I set on a mission to find them all. I ignored the retailer-assigned items (these are used for products that don’t have their own standardized PLU’s), but I was able to find most of the others.

You can watch my YouTube video here on the experience, and to see how it turned out:

I call upon Townsville restaurants and food trucks to add this to your menu. I’m sure it’ll sell!

TOWNSVILLE SOUP

Ingredients:
4810 – bunched or banded turnips
4811 – purple-top turnip
4812 – white turnip
4813 – retailer-assigned turnip (ignored for the recipe)
4814 – water chestnuts
4815 – watercress
4816 – golden sweet potato
4817 – sweet potato with red or orangy-red flesh
4818 – retailer-assigned sweet potato (ignored for the recipe)
4819 – cassava

Method:
1. Peel, chop and boil / pressure cook the hell out of the cassava first cause it’s toxic if you don’t.
2. Peel & chop the turnips, water chestnuts & sweet potato.
3. Throw it all in a soup pot, cover with water & a bit of salt and boil everything for 45 mins.
4. Whiz it all through a blender once it’s cooled down.
5. Chop the watercress and add it to the soup.
6. Eat your deliciously nostalgic Townsville Soup, preferably while overlooking the city from the Castle Hill lookout.

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Earlier this year as I was packing my belongings during a house relocation, I decided to put a few things up for sale which I didn’t need any more. One of them was a crystal photography ball, similar to this:

Basically it’s a transparent crystal ball you can use to take inverted, reflective photos with. I got it as a Reddit Secret Santa gift years ago, toyed with it once and never had a use for it after that. You can pick them up for $20 on Amazon but I listed mine for $10 on Facebook Marketplace.

One guy, who I shall name Frederic, showed some interest in the crystal ball to cast “gnar spells” with and went as far as paying me for it, but curiously, he never actually collected the item from me, nor did he accept a refund. I ended up profiting $10 for absolutely no reason!

Check out my story on YouTube to find out what happened:

Frederic was a true character – one of those people you encounter from time to time who just make you shake your head and laugh.

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Check out my video on the world’s most vulgar gravestone!

In a nondescript plot in Montreal’s Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery lies the body of a certain John Laird McCaffrey, whose gravestone has written upon it an ambiguously naughty inscription.

Now that I live in Montreal, I had to see this sacrilegious sarcophagus for myself.

What exactly is this crude commemoration, might you ask? Take a look:

John:

Free your body and soul
Unfold your powerful wings
Climb up the highest mountains
Kick your feet up in the air
You may now live forever
Or return to this Earth
Unless you feel good where you are!

Missed by your friends

If you haven’t spotted it already, take the first letter of each of the lines in the epitaph and you’ll see it spells “FUCK YOU”!

I’d heard of this gravestone quite some time ago but I wasn’t sure if it actually existed or if it was an urban myth; thankfully an article at Snopes and an official entry at Find A Grave (the world’s largest database on all things related to burials) confirmed to me that it was, in fact, legitimate.

I took note of its location: Section C, Plot 01369, and rode my bike up the delightfully scenic Mont Royal, to Notre Dame des Neige Cemetery (one of the two necropoli that reside along its western slopes), to embark upon my quest.

It didn’t take long to spot. The burial location map at the official cemetery website gave me a good indication of where Section C was, and it was a quick search from there to find the specific slab.

The front of McCaffrey’s gravestone

So how did this gravestone come to be?

According to an interview published some years ago in the Montreal Mirror with the stonemason who carved out the words:

“Afterwards, as I’m done, I’m looking at it and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ I noticed it just like that. This guy’s ex-wife and mistress came in together and ordered the stone. They said the message represented him. It was a thing between the three of them.”

I’d like to think McCaffrey would see the light side to this – after all, it’s been 28 years since his death and random people like me are still visiting him!

I was curious to see just how common it was around the world for epitaphs to contain vulgar language like this and I can’t say I was particularly surprised to find it certainly isn’t prevalent.

In an article from 2015 on stuff.co.nz entitled Expletives could be banned from headstones, I learnt that the Palmerston North City Council censored the gravestone of Vincent Drummond-Paul which contained an F-Bomb. Engraved on the stone was a list of his favourite songs, including the Big Sean hit, I Don’t Fuck With You; it received complaints from another grieving family and the council took action to hide the offending word.

In another case a few years earlier in Lynn, Massachusetts, The Daily Item reported that the Cemetery Commissioner rejected a request from a local family to inscribe deceased rapper Sonny Santiago’s tombstone with lyrics from one of his self-penned songs: “You gonna remember the damn name, I give a fuck if I die with no damn friends, I got my fam by my side and that’s until the end”.

Don’t get me wrong – there are quite a few humorous gravestones out there in the world, easily evident from a quick google search, but it’s rare indeed to find any epitaphs containing a profane word. I wasn’t able to find any set rule as to what language is and isn’t acceptable on a cemetery shrine, but it’s pretty clear an unofficial line is drawn when it comes to hard cussing.

With all that in mind, I’m pretty sure the late John Laird McCaffrey can hold claim to the world’s most vulgar gravestone.

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One of my favourite outdoor spots around Toronto to spend time in is Tommy Thompson Park (a.k.a. the Leslie St. Spit), a not-too-well-known peninsula that extends into Lake Ontario from the far south end of Leslie St. It’s essentially a chunk of reclaimed land, formed from the dumping of unwanted construction material in the 1950’s, which has since transformed into an environmental wetlands & conservation area.

I’d written about it once before here on my blog, back in 2014. Take a peek at it for a more thorough photographic depiction of the gloriousness of this urban wilderness as a whole, but what I’ve come here to talk about today is a certain corner of the park’s backroads that I chanced upon in October 2017.

The good majority of Tommy Thompson Park is accessible by an asphalt road but there are a number of smaller, more rugged trails that branch off the primary track. My friend Conor and I were cycling in the area on a fall afternoon and opted for one such weather-beaten way. We came to precisely this point on the map when we noticed a curious structure made from the countless bricks and cinder blocks that lined the shores:

A very talented & motivated artist / amateur architect (quite possibly a group of them?) had gone to an incredible effort to build a fort along the park’s southern banks. We spent some time wandering around, marveling at how such a construction could possibly have come together in such a remote and difficult-to-access area.

I returned a few weeks later with my camera and took a bunch of shots to preserve the memory. As much as I wanted to share them to Reddit at the time, I refrained from doing so as a viral post could have led to an overabundance of curious visitors and potential vandalism of the site.

Despite my frequent return visits to the park it took me quite some time to stop by this particular corner again; alas, by 2020 the fort had been demolished. I’m not sure if its demise was accelerated by the harsh Ontarian wind or if it happened purely by human hands. Regardless, I finally feel like posting my pics of this magical lakeside artwork in memory of its creator(s) and the handful of people who were also lucky enough to stumble upon it and leave their own marks of appreciation.

Dotted around the fort were some smaller pieces of art and emotive dedications:

I was also quite impressed by the sheer number of ladybugs resting on the debris-laden lakeshore:

Prior to writing this post I tried to locate some further information on the brick fort, assuming others may have posted photos or a journal onto the web in the years that have passed. It was my hope that someone out there had laid claim to its creation. Aside from this Toronto Star article seven years prior to my visit questioning the origins of a similar, smaller brick shrine, I haven’t been able to find a thing.

Whoever you were, dear creator, the time I spent getting to know your charming fort was certainly time well spent. I remain in awe of your superb craftsmanship.

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Today was the big day that the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) opened the 6-station subway extension to Line 1 – nine years in the making and with a budget of over $3.2 billion!

I thought to myself yesterday while preparing to go out on a downtown pub crawl that it’d be cool to be part of Toronto history and ride the first public train along the new line from Sheppard West to Vaughan Metropolitan Centre. Despite getting kinda wasted and heading home from the last bar at a reasonably late time, I still managed to wake up early enough on a Sunday to catch the first southbound train from College, which would eventually lead me northbound towards Vaughan.

My friend Elaine had agreed to come for the ride as well, boarding the 7:55am southbound train from the first stop on the line, Finch. The plan was for me to meet her when it passed through College, but I failed to realise that other trains closer to the downtown area had commenced service at the same time. She wasn’t on the first train that passed through College, so I train-hopped until I found her on the next one. We may have missed the opportunity to be on the first ever public train to use the new track, but we were on the first train to do the full circuit from Finch to Vaughan.

We weren’t the only ones with the same idea

The best thing about the journey along the new portion of the track was that the train driver opened up his compartment and allowed a few people in at a time to see the line up close & personal, from the perspective of the operator. It was a rare privilege to be able to see the TTC in this form.

Subway driver’s compartment on the opening day of the TTC Line 1 extension!

The rear half of the train along the way to Vaughan

Elaine & I got chatting with a guy sitting next to us; he told us he also travelled on the TTC the first day the northbound Spadina line extension opened in the late 70’s. Not only that, but he remembered being 4 or 5 years old and taking the subway when the first line was completed in the 50’s. He was pretty confident he’s gonna live long enough to be the first to travel on the Eglinton LRT when it opens in 2021 – providing of course that it doesn’t get delayed!

Getting close!

Pretty much everyone on the new track was there purely for the ride. There was a surprisingly upbeat, happy & celebratory mood in the first carriage, it was a really nice event to be part of.

We reached Vaughan Metropolitan Centre around 9am to a round of applause from the fellow passengers and a lot of fanfare at the beautiful new station.

The awesome mirrored ceiling at Vaughan Metropolitan Centre

Me with my commemorative TTC Map (which is now hanging on my bedroom wall)

York Transit also wanted to be part of the action, not all the fanfare went to the TTC!

There wasn’t too much going on outside the new station, it was kinda desolate all the way up in the northern suburbs. We managed to find a nearby diner for some brunch and then made our way back to the station for the return trip downtown.

The new station from the outside

The main entrance

I’ll probably never come up this far north again but I don’t at all regret getting up early after a night on the booze to be part of Toronto transit history this morning. The opening of a new train line is definitely not something that happens every day.

Bring on Eglinton 2021!

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As a new resident to Toronto in 2013 it was impossible to ignore the bright lights of Honest Ed’s the first time I passed by the corner of Bloor & Bathurst, in the north-west of the downtown core.

Opened in 1948 by entrepreneur Ed Mirvish, it rose to prominence as the destination in town for no-frills bargains. Met with some resistance in its founding years, it ultimately carved a place in Toronto culture thanks its huge storefront display featuring tens of thousands of flashing light bulbs and pun-laden slogans (Honest Ed’s a nut! But look at the ‘cashew’ save!). You might compare its notoriety with something like Harrods in London – on the complete other end of the price & elegance scale, mind you – but a one-of-a-kind store that locals flock to & tourists read about in all their guidebooks. It became pretty clear to me that this place was an institution.

Unfortunately in mid-2014 it was announced Honest Ed’s would close on December 31st, 2016 to make way for a new residential & commercial development. With less than a week to go, I decided to drop by one final time today with my camera to snap a few shots of this lovable Toronto landmark before it’s gone forever.

 

One of the many glorious Honest Ed’s storefront signs

 

Busy pedestrian corner at Bloor & Bathurst

 

The first time I walked through the store I was awestruck at how full it was with all kinds of trinkets, clothes, appliances, groceries & housewares. I recall my bemusement at the randomness of some of the merchandise on offer, in particular some $2.99 water bottles with a choice of either a Jamaican flag or a Newfoundland & Labrador flag printed on it, of all things. This is exactly the kinda weird stuff that gave Honest Ed’s its charm! Only a few minutes later in the clothing section upstairs I found a pair of jeans on sale for $2 – less than the price of the bloody Jamaica water bottle. Thanks to Ed Mirvish’s contribution to the Toronto performing arts scene, my eyes were drawn to the scores of theatrical posters & props lining the walls of the two buildings, alongside hand-painted shop signs from years gone by. It was certainly a colourful & eccentric shop to spend time in.

 

Jamaica or Newfoundland & Labrador?

One of the many strange props adoring the walls

 

I wish I’d taken more pics of the place back then because the interior today was a shadow of its former self. The previously-packed rooms were now almost empty, with not much left to purchase aside from a few impractical bits & pieces which were clearly struggling to move off the shelves.

There was a whole section cordoned off for Honest Ed-related memorabilia though, where bins full of their iconic hand-painted signs were on offer as souvenirs. Most of today’s shoppers, including myself, could be found in this area trying to get their hands on a piece of Toronto signwriting history.

 

I got told off for attempting to take a pic of the memorabilia section, but there were hundreds of hand-painted signs similar to this posters one starting from $9, up to $100+ for a full-sized sign

 

A view of the rainy laneway from the overpass connecting the two buildings

 

What was left of the kitchenware department: a few tables with some unappealing mugs, plates and glasses

 

Along the Markham St entrance

 

Honest Ed Alley

 

“Only the floors are crooked” – along Bathurst St

 

Looking out at the sign from the Green Beanery Cafe across the road

 

This place looks awesome at night, I’ll miss these lights, even if half of them are blown

 

Last month the TTC subway station at Bathurst paid tribute to Honest Ed’s by installing signs & slogans in the spirit of the retailer. I’ve heard there are plans to turn it into a permanent feature of the station – here’s hoping this is true.

 

The Honest Ed’s-style entrance to Bathurst Station

 

Love a good TTC pun

 

There was another one that said Bacon & Eglinton, $3.25 … ha!

 

That Honest Ed’s typeface

 

Honest Ed’s facts plastered over the Bathurst platform

 

Thanks Honest Ed’s. It was a pleasure to have shopped in you over the past three years.

 

Bye Honest Ed’s

 

Oh and one final thing: I now have my very own authenticated piece of Honest Ed’s on display in my bathroom 🙂

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I love documentaries. Over the past couple of years I’ve become engrossed in the genre & developed a true passion for them, to the point where they’re basically all I watch these days.

Here in Toronto I’m very lucky to have access to outlets such as the Hot Docs Cinema, one of the only cinemas in the world to specialise in documentaries, and Queen Video, with a more-than-extensive selection of hard-to-find non-fiction DVD gems. Not only that, but it’s great to be part of online communities such as /r/Documentaries on Reddit who help spread the word about everything from obscure short films from the early 90’s on sex, drugs or rock & roll right through to the latest Louis Theroux blockbuster (and can’t we all wait to see it…!) Between all these and my Netflix subscription I’m pretty much set for life.

A few weeks ago I posted a Reddit comment where I mentioned a bunch of my favourite documentaries. It had a pretty good response so I spent some time compiling a list of my top 60 to share with the community. And I thought I’d post them here to my blog as well.

I tend to steer away from the nature/science/biographical-style docs and go more for the ones that tell a fascinating story about someone or something. You’ll find most on the list are along these lines; also they’re all fairly modern dating from around the 2000’s – 2010’s (if anyone has suggestions for some decent older docs to check out I’d love to hear).

Note there are no links to view the docs, this is simply a list with a brief description about the film along with my thoughts on it. I hope some of you are inspired to investigate further & check them out. The full IMDB list I keep of docs I watch, if you’re interested, is here. Enjoy!

 

60. My Life As A Turkey (2011)
I happened to stumble across this doc late one night on TV, all about nature enthusiast Jim Hutto, who conducted an experiment by raising a group of wild turkeys well into adulthood. He bonded deeply with the turkeys as they grew over the course of two years, in some cases living & acting as though he was a turkey himself. It may make you think differently about your Thanksgiving dinner this year.

 

59. Bus 174 (Ônibus 174) (2002)
A chilling Brazilian film about Bus 174 in Rio de Janeiro which was taken hostage in June 2000 by a gunman, threatening to shoot all on board. The whole incident was captured and broadcast on live television as it happened; the film offers a bleak glimpse into life within Rio’s favelas.

 

58. The Missing Ingredient: What Is The Recipe For Success? (2015)
A fairly recent & light-hearted documentary about famed (and sadly, closed) Manhattan Upper East Side restaurant Gino’s and its striking red zebra wallpaper, the pattern of which was ‘borrowed’ by Pescatore, a struggling restaurant in Midtown. Much controversy surrounded Pescatore’s new image, especially by Gino’s staff and their regular customers. The narrative is delightfully balanced between Gino’s colourful history and Pescatore’s desire to remain on the map.

 

57. Craigslist Joe (2012)
I’m a pretty avid user of Craigslist so it was quite an inspiration to watch this doc & see for myself how Joseph Garner managed to organise an entire cross-US trip based entirely on personals ads he posted. The idea was that he wasn’t allowed to spend any money for a month, relying entirely on the kindness of strangers to help him along his journey.

 

56. Shut Up Little Man! – An Audio Misadventure (2011)
In the late 80’s, two friends moved into an apartment in San Francisco to find that their neighbours, Peter Haskett & Raymond Huffman, constantly argued & bickered with each other, laden with expletives, homophobic references and repeated catchphrases such as “Shut up, little man!” The new tenants set up tape recorders to capture the heated conversations; by accident it soon became an audio vérité phenomenon, with people from all around the country copying the tapes and passing it onto friends. The film tracks the story of Peter & Raymond’s unlikely rise to cult fame.

 

55. The Man With The 7 Second Memory (2005)
A made-for-TV doc about a British man called Clive Wearing who has suffered from a certain type of amnesia since 1985 which literally leaves him with a seven second memory. The moment he lays eyes on someone, his wife for example, he thinks it’s the first time they’ve met. Remarkably, he can still play piano (he was an expert choral singer & pianist at the point of contracting the illness) and his wife still cares for him today.

 

54. Happy People: A Year In The Taiga (2010)
Werner Herzog makes his first of many appearances in this list; in this masterpiece he spends a year in the Siberian Taiga documenting the traditions of hunters & gatherers whose culture has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. A wonderful insight into a whole other world.

 

53. Whole (2003)
Now this is a really strange doc I found while searching through the collection of Queen Video, an alternative DVD rental store, all about a unique group of individuals who feel like they should be amputees. They literally have all their arms & legs attached to their body with perfect function, but they have an overwhelming desire to be rid of one or more of their limbs. It’s just bizarre… you have to see it to believe it.

 

52. An Honest Liar (2014)
Illusionist, magician & skeptic James Randi has devoted much of his life to debunking all things paranormal, particularly self-proclaimed psychics and evangelical healers. A number of fascinatingly cringeworthy moments are on display from throughout his career, particularly the time he was asked by The Tonight Show crew for advice on how they could impose tight controls on Uri Geller during a demonstration of one of his ‘psychic’ tricks on live television. It really makes you realise the lengths these people go to in order to fool their audience.

 

51. The Summit (2012)
K2 is the second highest & one of the most dangerous mountain summits in the world; in 2008, eleven climbers lost their lives in one day following a devastating avalanche. The film tells the heartbreaking story of this fateful day.

 

50. Flowers From The Mount Of Olives (Õlimäe õied) (2013)
Definitely not the highest budget or best produced doc of the list, but there was something about the story that really captured me. 82 year old Estonian nun Sister Ksenya resides in a Jerusalem convent and contemplates her long & tumultuous life. She’s a super interesting woman who is soon to embark on the Great Schema, the final step along her spiritual path which involves a code of complete silence for the remainder of her life.

 

49. The White Diamond (2004)
Dr. Graham Dorrington is an engineer who has built a unique airship which he intends to fly above the forest surrounding Kaieteur Falls in Guyana. He attempted a similar exercise 12 years beforehand which resulted in the death of one of his crew members. Although the incident is still fresh in his mind, he’s determined not to fail this time around, inviting Werner Herzog along to capture his dream coming true.

 

48. Of Men And War (2014)
A group of American war veterans return home from the front lines of Iraq, taunted by horrific memories & left with post-traumatic stress. The film chronicles the therapy involved in opening up to share their story, find peace with their families and ultimately conquer their demons. It’s a pretty long movie but there’s a lot to get through.

 

47. Catfish (2010)
A rather creepy story that spawned a TV series of the same name, which documents the filmmakers befriending a young artistic girl named Abby Pierce through Facebook. The friendship eventually expanded to members of Abby’s family such as her mother & father. As it turns out: not everyone on the internet is who they say they are.

 

46. Waste Land (2010)
Brazilian artist Vik Muniz had an idea to work with waste pickers at Brazil’s largest landfill, turning trash into incredible works of art & later selling them at a London auction house, the profits of which were returned to the community. It’s quite uplifting to see how the experience was able to change the lives of those less fortunate.

 

45. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey (2011)
Exceptionally cute film about Kevin Clash, the puppeteer responsible for the creation of Sesame Street’s Elmo. There were unproven allegations following the film’s release that he was involved in a relationship with a minor which kinda puts a dampener on things, but he still has a great story to tell. If you like this, it’s also worth watching I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story, although I do think Being Elmo is slightly more charming.

 

44. Blackfish (2013)
Controversial documentary about Tilikum, an orca kept in captivity at SeaWorld for nearly 30 years who was killed her own trainer in 2010. SeaWorld went into damage control upon the release of the film claiming it was inaccurate & misleading; either way, it’s a harrowing look at the morality behind animal captivity.

 

43. Encounters At The End Of The World (2007)
Set entirely in Antarctica, Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlicher get to know the scientists & researchers stationed there who study its barren wilderness. It’s an impromptu film in that none of it was planned prior to their journey – it all happened as they went along. It includes some stunning footage of ice caves and Mt Erebus, an active volcano.

 

42. Meru (2015)
I’m a pretty big fan of mountain climbing documentaries and I think this is the best. It follows three climbers and their failed quest to ascend this Himalayan peak in 2008, attempting it once again in 2011. The crew evade death on more than one occasion during the process, including an avalanche and a frightening fall which led to a major injury. A true case of never giving up on your end goal.

 

41. Tig (2015)
A charming documentary about American comedian Tig Notaro, focusing on her breast cancer diagnosis in 2012 and a stand-up set she performed in an LA comedy club shortly afterwards which really put her name on the map. In the year that follows she continues to develop her career & relationship with her fiancée while dealing with the challenges that come with illness.

 

40. Walking The Camino (2013)
The Camino de Santiago is one of the world’s great long-distance pilgrimages which can begin at a variety of European locations but ultimately ends in Galicia at the north of Spain. A number of pilgrims were followed & interviewed along the 500 mile course in 2009, all participating for a variety of reasons from adventure to spiritual enlightenment. It made me want to take part in the pilgrimage one day myself.

 

39. Exit Through The Gift Shop (2013)
A huge fan of street art, the film follows Frenchman Thierry Guetta around Los Angeles and his quest to discover the people behind the art, eventually leading him to befriend renowned British street artist Banksy. It’s difficult to tell for sure if this really is a documentary or if it’s a work of art by Banksy himself. Either way it’s a bloody good story.

 

38. Children Underground (2010)
A bleak look at the lives of five orphaned children left to fend for themselves on the streets of Bucharest, Romania. Taking shelter inside a subway station, you become witness to physical/sexual abuse, drug addiction and other harsh realities that occur within the group. Also documented are the social workers who attempt to reform the lives of the young ones. Difficult to watch but certainly eye-opening.

 

37. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012)
I first saw a clip of performance artist Marina Abramovic on Reddit; it featured some highlights of her 2010 exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art where she sat for over 736 hours on a chair, simply staring in silence into the eyes of participants who sat opposite her for minutes at a time. The clip led me to discover this documentary of her life leading up to her retrospective performance piece. A truly fascinating individual.

 

36. Cartel Land (2015)
Follows the stories of almost all involved in the supply chain of illegal narcotics from Mexico to the US, from the drug manufacturers through to the Cartels through to vigilante Mexican and American groups trying to protect their neighbourhoods & border. The footage is so raw & real I’m surprised the filmmakers made it out alive.

 

35. Undefeated (2011)
Follows the progress of a Memphis high school football team made predominantly of kids who fall below the poverty line, and their struggle to keep together as a team. The sheer passion the coach Bill Courtney has for his players is inspirational; he’s a true mentor who’s ultimately able to turn around their losing streak.

 

34. On Death Row (2012)
Captured at the same time as Werner Herzog’s feature film Into The Abyss which appears further along the list, this is a made-for-TV series that takes a look inside Texan prisons with a particular focus on inmates who are due to be executed.

 

33. Somm (2012)
A fascinating look into the life of a Master Sommelier and what it takes to pass the coveted exam. The best scene is the one where a bunch of Sommeliers-in-the-making are asked to sample a particular wine and determine exactly which vintage it is. The accuracy by which they’re able to pinpoint the grape is tremendous.

 

32. Amy (2015)
One of the better biographical documentaries out there. I didn’t know all that much about Amy Winehouse or her music prior to seeing the movie but I was almost in tears by the end, wishing she was still with us today sharing her soulful voice & charisma with the world.

 

31. The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014)
A fun & light-hearted film about the famed Barkley Marathons, a 100 mile, rarely-completed ultra marathon held annually in Tennessee since 1986. The film profiles the charismatic organisers of the race as well as in-depth coverage of the 2012 marathon and its participants.

 

30. Weiner (2016)
A cringeworthy look into the life & times of Anthony Weiner, former Congressman and candidate for New York Mayor, famed for his numerous sexting scandals that tore apart his career and almost ruined his marriage. Despite what you make of him personally, I was particularly impressed at the composure & humour he was able to keep during a time of such strenuous media coverage.

 

29. Into The Abyss (2011)
Werner Herzog delves deeply into the abyss that is death row, interviewing a prisoner convicted of murder in the months & weeks leading up to his execution. Herzog collected a wealth of material from five inmates on death row, opting to feature Michael Perry in this film with the remaining men forming part of a TV documentary series called On Death Row.

 

28. The Bridge (2006)
This is probably the most hard-hitting film to watch out of all on the list. A camera crew recorded 10,000 hours of footage of the Golden Gate Bridge during 2004, capturing almost all the suicides that occurred that year and interviewing friends & family members of the deceased as well as a previous survivor of the fall.

 

27. The Cove (2009)
An investigation into dolphin hunting in Taiji, Japan, led by activist Ric O’Barry, who helped capture & train the dolphins used in the Flipper TV series. Although the dolphin hunt is legal, it’s a brutal depiction of the reality behind this barbaric tradition.

 

26. The Wolfpack (2015)
Residing in New York’s lower eastside, this family of 7 children were homeschooled and warned by their father to never venture outside due to the dangers lurking within Manhattan. After 15 years of their only exposure to the outside world being via film, one of the brothers broke the rules and wandered onto the street, followed closely by his remaining siblings.

 

25. Jiro Dreams Of Sushi (2011)
At 85 years old, Jiro has spent almost all his life dedicated to the art of sushi-making. As the owner of arguably the most famous & exclusive sushi restaurant in Tokyo, the film documents his youth, the day-to-day running of the location and his two sons, both of whom have followed in his sushi-making footsteps.

 

24. Cave Of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Explore the Chauvet Caves in the south of France with Werner Herzog, who managed to gain rare access to what are considered the oldest known rock paintings in the world.

 

23. Winnebago Man (2009)
Jack Rebney, famous for his furious, ‘fuck’-laden outtakes of an 80’s Winnebago commercial, despised his notoriety after the clip took to Youtube in its early years and moved to a secluded location in northern California where he no longer had to deal with general society on a daily basis. Winnebago Man sees the filmmaker track down Rebney to introduce him to a genuinely appreciative audience.

 

22. The Last Days (1998)
Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-winning film about five Hungarian Jews who revisit their childhood homes and tell some very traumatic stories about their time at Auschwitz.

 

21. Life, Animated (2016)
A heartwarming doc from this year showing at cinemas right now, about a young autistic man Owen Suskind and how it took animated Disney movies for his family to finally get through to him. It follows his story from a young boy right up until his recent graduation & move into his own apartment where he’s finally able to retain some independence.

 

20. Senna (2010)
I have absolutely zero interest in Formula 1 but I was hooked on the life story of Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race-car driver and national hero who died behind the wheel at an unfortunately young age.

 

19. Chernobyl Heart (2003)
A short film which I discovered through /r/Documentaries about children in Belarus born with cancers & illnesses related to radiation from Chernobyl. Particularly moving is a scene where a young girl is given an artificial heart valve, allowing her a second chance at life.

 

18. Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father (2008)
This is a particularly painful one to watch that’ll surely make you cry. Kurt Kuenne tells the story of his friend Andrew Bagby who was murdered, with the idea of presenting it as a gift to his son Zachary who he never got to meet. What ends up happening to Zachary is beyond belief.

 

17. Camp 14: Total Control Zone (2012)
Born & raised in a North Korean labor camp, Shin Dong-Huyk eventually escaped & made his way to the US to tell his tale of the cruelty that went on behind the walls of his former home. He witnessed the execution of his own mother and was frequently exposed to hunger & savage beatings by prison guards. I recently read that he since admitted to embellishing some of the stories for dramatic effect, but it’s still an intense watch & will leave you with utter contempt for Kim Jong-Un and his ridiculous regime.

 

16. Sour Grapes (2016)
Rudy Kurniawan is new to the wine auction scene but gradually makes a name for himself from his excellent knowledge and outrageous purchases. Little did the wine community know that he had a very fraudulent ulterior motive all along. An interesting tale of trust & deceit within an exclusive club of connoisseurs. Fairly recent doc that may still be showing in cinemas today.

 

15. Serving Life (2011)
A made-for-TV doc about a group of prisoners in Louisiana who are responsible for running an in-house hospice, providing care for those nearing the end of their lives who have little other friends or family to turn to. A rather beautiful perspective into how otherwise hardened criminals come together to treat fellow inmates with warmth, care & dignity.

 

14. Bowling For Columbine (2002)
Michael Moore at his finest, dissecting the Columbine massacre and presenting his thoughts on why gun violence is so prevalent in America. The most tense part of the film is when he brings two of the Columbine victims into the K-Mart head office to confront those responsible for the availability of handgun ammunition in their stores.

 

13. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery Of The Toynbee Tiles (2011)
Damn, this is a supremely mysterious & interesting story! Dating from the 80’s, a number of custom-made tiles have been found throughout US & South American cities which say “TOYNBEE IDEA / IN Kubrick’s 2001 / RESURRECT DEAD / ON PLANET JUPITER” or something to that effect. Nobody knew who was responsible for the tiles let alone what any of it meant, so a team of intrigued investigators got together to try to figure it all out.

 

12. Seymour: An Introduction (2014)
Seymour Bernstein is a much-loved pianist, piano teacher & composer whose announced his final recital in 1977, after which he concentrated solely on teaching & composing. The film sees Seymour take to the stage one final time; a performance nearly 40 years in the making.

 

11. Finding Vivian Maier (2013)
Nobody knew that Vivian Maier, a nanny who worked in various American cities in the 60’s-70’s, harboured a secret passion for street photography. Tens of thousands of photographs & negatives were discovered in the years following her death; director John Maloof wanted to spread the word about her previously unrecognised talent.

 

10. Spinning Plates (2012)
An endearing story about three very different restaurants in the US (Chicago’s Alinea, Breitbach’s Country Dining in Iowa and La Conina de Gabby in Arizona), detailing the trial & tribulations the restauranteurs and staff alike go through along the journey.

 

9. Alfred & Jakobine (2014)
I saw this at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto a few years ago, I don’t believe it’s available on DVD yet so it might be hard to find. Alfred & Jakobine met in the mid-50’s in Africa where they quickly fell in love & spent the next 10 or 15 years travelling around the world in an old London taxicab. After marrying & having children they decided to settle down in the US, but Alfred couldn’t stay put & ultimately left to pursue his vagabond ways. Decades later he came to regret his decision so he restored the old taxicab (which he’d kept all along) and travelled across the country to see Jakobine one final time before it was too late.

 

8. Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventures (2004)
This is a stage show rather than a documentary but it’s bloody entertaining. British comedian Dave Gorman discovered the term ‘Googlewhack’ (googling two legitimate English words that bring up only one result) and ended up on a ridiculous worldwide adventure because of it. If you like this one also check out Are You Dave Gorman? where he travels around the world to meet a bunch of other people who share his name.

 

7. Wings Of Hope (2000)
Werner Herzog was scheduled to take a flight within Peru in 1971 but he ended up on a different flight due to his reservation being cancelled. Lucky for him, because the original flight was struck by lightning & crashed, leaving a miraculous sole survivor to fend for herself in the Amazonian jungle for a couple of weeks before being rescued. The film retraces the exact steps Juliane Koepcke took during her fight for survival.

 

6. Tickled (2016)
Best documentary so far from 2016 about a Kiwi TV reporter who accidentally discovers a sport called Competitive Endurance Tickling and the investigation that follows. It has everything I could ever ask for in a narrative – an absurd but fun-sounding subject that escalates into something so much deeper than you could ever imagine, full of bizarre characters and engaging plot twists. Go see it in a cinema now if it’s showing near you.

 

5. Louis Theroux: anything
I didn’t want to break down Louis’ films independently otherwise the whole list would just be made up of him, so I put him here as a single category instead! But my top picks of his are The Most Hated Family In America about the Westboro Baptist (“God Hates Fags”) Church and his specials related to mental/criminal institutions such as Behind Bars, By Reason Of Insanity and Miami Megajail.

 

4. Man On Wire (2008)
In 1974, Frenchman Philippe Petit & a team of assistants snuck onto the roof of the twin towers in NYC, rigging a high wire between the two buildings & completing the cross in around an hour one morning with bewildered pedestrians looking on from below. The doc tells the story of the preparation leading up to & including the event.

 

3. The Fear Of 13 (2015)
Nick Yarris spent 21 years in the Pennsylvania prison system on death row after having been convicted of murder. Surprise, surprise: it turns out he didn’t actually do it and was eventually released from prison. He’s an absolutely enthralling storyteller, he relates his youth & his time spent in jail with such passionate intensity. A must-watch.

 

2. Searching For Sugar Man (2012)
Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez released a few albums in the 70’s which didn’t result in much local success. Decades later he discovered he’d become a superstar in South Africa after someone had smuggled his records into the country, finding immense popularity among the anti-apartheid community. A truly mindblowing story.

 

1. Grizzly Man (2005)
Wildlife enthusiast Timothy Treadwell spent 13 summers camping amongst wild bears in Alaska as though he was a bear himself. Werner Herzog did an astonishing job at interviewing his friends & family and stitching together the footage Timothy had taken over the years which ultimately led to his demise. As far as I’m concerned, there is no greater documentary than this one.