Uninhabited Spaces

While Queen's Homecoming is not taking place until October we happened to be in Kingston this past weekend to celebrate the 40th birthday of a dear friend. Since it's the 20th reunion of my class, Artsci'93 , I I took the opportunity to stroll around my beloved alma mater. It was one of those perfect Fall days, 20 degrees, with a sky that looked photo-shopped, the ivy was turning red as were many of the campus foliage, and the Rugby Gaels were demolishing a visiting team on Nixon Field. It looked like a movie set or a classic college catalogue. Here are some shots I took as we strolled around my old stomping grounds. Theological Hall (1880) Morgan Memorial Chapel, Theological Hall Fleming Hall (1904) Carruthers Hall (1890) Ontario Hall (1903) Grant Hall (1905) Douglas Library (1924) Detail, Ontario Hall (1903) Goodes Hall (1892, addition 2002, addition 2012)

For our anniversary last month we went to the restaurant inside the new The Beverley Hotel located on Queen Street West. I think it had been open for about a month when we dined in, which seemed to be perfect timing as we had a lovely experience and a mouth-watering meal. My opening dish was hanger steak tartare and lobster carpaccio Mark started with scallop and chinook My main was a perfectly-cooked beef cheek with chanterelles and frites. Mark's main dish was clams, lobster, chinook and scallops over corn veloute. For dessert we shared house-made donuts.Mmmm...

So the juggernaut that is the Toronto International Film Festival is well underway and, given that my office is just four streets up from  main venues Bell Tiff Lightbox, Roy Thompson Hall, and Princess of Wales Theatre, I have been witnessing the chaos every day during my walk home. I usually walk through David Pecault Square on my way to work and this morning around 8:20 I stopped along the fenced off VIP drop-off section to chat to some die-hard TIFF fans who had brought camping chairs to set in for the long-haul. Their goal today was to meet Ewan McGregor. They had met Brad Pitt the day before and said he was really sweet. As for your truly, we had made out our top-5 "must see" films and were very pleased to score tickets to 2 of them. Our first showing is Tuesday night's Gala Presentation of Kill Your Darlings starring Daniel Radcliffe and Ben Foster. The film is based around the 1944 murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr. Radcliffe plays Allen Ginsberg whi