TORONTO CALLING 5...

ART AND ARCHITECTURE AGO-GO...
This is Carlos Celdran reporting from Frank Gehry's spanking new Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Brave awe inspiring architecture. Still kinda unfinished but neverthless, amazing to behold.

Did you know he was Canadian? I didn't. I just thought he was brilliant.

TORONTO CALLING 4 AND TALKS BACK...

And then it came to pass that I visited a cafe in the neighborhood called the Hotbox Cafe to have a glass of apple juice. I could describe the place to you in detail but I think the name says it all. It was a very cool place to say the least. Full of friendly hippy types and with a very lax smoking rule.

After visiting I took yet another walk around Toronto and noticed that the city not only had really interesting art to look at but brilliant words to say.

Way Cool, man. Way cool...

And after a brief walk through Trinity Bellwoods park to watch the dogs play, I headed back to um.. where was I again?

Oh yeah. I'm hungry. La la la la la...

TORONTO CALLING 3...

Caroline and I decided to take a walk to work yesterday. And aside from my aforementioned white elephant down the street, I realized that there was a hell of a lot of public art in Toronto to be seen. Some of it intentional, some of it not. I mean, my friend Daphne said that there was great art to see in TO, but I didn't realize how much.

And it seems that the elephant wasn't the only plaster animal on the block either.

And the art I saw wasn't only installed by institutions and government entities, I noticed that even private citizens were sharing their aesthetics with the world.

Outside a park near Yarmouth is a sculpture installed by a man who lived across the street from it. It's a "street lamp" I believe. Cute.

Some of the murals I saw on my way to The Kapisanan office.

A Philippine Princess Chair. I haven't seen one of these in years.

A cat on top of the world. There were lots of sculptures like this near the Chinatown area.

Wow.

I love any city that has a tram. I have yet to ride it and fulfill my streetcar desire though. The weather has just been too nice not to walk.

And finally, the Kapisanan Philippine Center at the end of Augusta Street in the Kensington Market area, a totally multi culti area of town filled with Latinos (my other peeps, whee), Koreans, Vietnamese, Thais, Portuguese, and what not. A perfect location for the cultural hybrid that is the Filipino. I even saw a Hungarian Thai restaurant called "Hungary Thai". Pad Thai and Schnitzel anyone? No seriously, I'm not kidding.

The lounge area, meeting table, and hall where I shall be working on props and doing rehearsals.

The Kapisanan board hard at work. I have to say that I am quite impressed by everyone that I have met here and am amazed by the Filipino-Canadian community spirit. The Kapisanan folk all seem to be competent, talented, and capable of multi-tasking and thinking out of the box. I mean, I am sure that there are some among them that could be an exception to the rule, but on the get go, they are all undeniably professional and have an exceptional work ethic. This is an org that is going to go far.

Next: I visit Hotbox Cafe...

TORONTO CALLING 2...

First of all, thanks a million to Caroline Mangosing/Romeo Candido and all the hardworking peeps of Kilusan Philippine Center for making this trip possible. And second of all, allow me to show you where I will be sleeping and working in for the next few weeks. Above: the view from my bedroom window on Yarmouth Street.

My desk and computer.

My bed. Sigh. I hate sleeping alone. It makes me nervous.

Dandelions in the front lawn. It seems spring has sprung in Toronto. It's not as cold as I expected. Although today is a pretty wet and gross day. Which is why I decided to stay in and blog.

A better view of the house. We stay upstairs.

The smoking section.

The street where I live.

And of course, the white elephant down the street. Wala lang.