Silician Sketchbook

Last night on the way home, the bus driver parked the bus and ran into the Country Style on Yonge for a coffee. First time that’s happened, so it was amusing. After the fifth time, I wouldn’t be so sure.

Anonymous? In Toronto? It’s more likely than you think, at least in my building. I wonder how long those taped fliers will remain up.

The driver of 7117 on route 53 is either a hero, or an asshat. It depends on whether you’re on the bus or trying to get on, and I was lucky to get in early. Past some unspecified point, the bus became a quasi-limited stop route like 53E, not picking up any more passengers despite the bus not being too packed. But unlike a 53E, people could leave at off at local stops along the way, provided they got to the doors fast enough.

Instead of staring in shock and confusion as the bus drove by, one guy made an attempt to knock on the door and run after the bus during a congested stretch of road. It wasn’t nearly as packed as when I got on, but the driver didn’t open the door. The guy ran to the next stop over, actually, to no avail.

Those who got the short end of the stick should file a complaint. Bus number 7117 on route 53, got to Bayview Avenue at 8:30 am today.

As for me, I’ll stick to 53E during rush hour and spare myself the drama.

A buddy and I stood outside Roy Thomson Hall for two hours on Saturday. We stood where the map is centered, a bit north of Wellington near the left octagonal structure. The line had run out the entrance, out Simcoe, along King, down the east side of the concert hall, and down the stairs to where we were. It would eventually snake back north towards King, and go around the oval back down towards Wellington, behind that left octagonal thing.

And despite the line, I think pretty much everyone got in. At least those who were in line when the doors opened. There were still people arriving at 3 pm thinking that no one would be there because, you know, it’s only Oscar Peterson and it’s only a free concert.

They gave out tickets. Tickets! It seemed like overkill, even if it was just to make sure people didn’t steal seats. I’m keeping that and the program guide as collector’s items.

I sat in the balcony, house-left. Decent view, with the left side being blocked only when people rose to give standing ovations. A black and white close up of Oscar Peterson hung at the center on a large projection screen. A large portrait photo with his daughter Celine at 5 years old during a London concert sat on the left beside his Dusseldorf grand piano. Another grand piano, a drum kit, amps for bass and electric guitar was on the right. A microphone was at the centre for soloists and tall microphone stands were at the back for the choir at the end.

The choir was sitting in the choir lofts (where we sat for Firebird) for about a third or so of the concert, then disappeared to warm up.

As for the concert, you can decide for yourself, since CBC Radio 2 is hosting the concert audio, but do it within a year since that’s the hosting length. I’m not that into jazz, but pro performers are pro performers.

In terms of mood, the concert was generally sombre. The playing of OP’s 1985 Berlin performance was the most energetic point, and no one ever matched that going forward, opting for more reflective pieces.

On that note, Herbie Hancock’s piano performance was decidedly non-jazz. It was…Impressionism almost, but he ventured into the realm of atonality or just really complicated polyharmony that I didn’t grasp. The amount of audience coughs was noticeably higher and I don’t think it was that enthusiastically received.

He burned us electrical engineers, though. Burned us good. It was his major until he decided to become follow OP’s footsteps. If it wasn’t for a record he’d heard that had OP as pianist, he would have wound up as “just another electrical/electronics engineer.”

:/

You’re not supposed to record the concert or take photographs, but that didn’t stop anybody. Some guy had a compact video recorder out during the performances, the guy beside me had a small digital camera.

The flashes really came out when Herbie stepped on stage. I understand why, but it’s still disrespectful. The man took a red-eye flight (and then had to leave right after his performance) not to wave to his fans and have them photograph him.

The concert was supposed to be about 2 hours long and wound up closer to 2.5. On the subway trip home some obviously drunk guy got on at Bloor and sat beside us, where he proceeded to talk to himself and to us even though we didn’t reply. Maybe he imagined us talking back? He almost exclusively muttered and was generally incomprehensible. Drunk at 7 in the evening, ’nuff said. My friend noted it was a small miracle that he knew to get off at Davisville.

No, I’m not even close to being good enough to single-handedly stack a team. I mean the other kind of team stacking, i.e. the selfish and mean-spirited kind.

Upon joining a TF2 pub server where a round is already under way, the first thing I do is look at the scoreboard. If a team is leading, then the decision is easy. If it’s too early or both teams have been deadlocked for a while, then scores are the next best metric. If I can’t join that team because they’ve got more players than the other, I’ll join spectator or otherwise hang around until a slot opens up.

I’m kind of burnt out on TF2 for pub play, unless it just so happens that the server attracts solid players that are comfortable executing strategies with little prior organization. I could play pickups for that, but there are times where no one’s available, plus those are more conducive to clans who want to get some practice in advance of league matches.

I guess long story short is, I despise poor players more than I ever have. I’ve been pretty annoyed in TFC, but never to the point that I will get on my mic and let the team have it for being incompetent. Why?

TF2 is much more team oriented than TFC. Given two pub teams with a mix of average players and stupid ones, a good player can dramatically tip the balance for either side in TFC. Part of it has to do with the fact that medium and heavy classes can take more punishment than their TF2 incarnations. A TFC soldier at full armor can take three rockets and a few shotguns to the face before going down, whereas a TF2 soldier is hard pressed to bear two point blank rockets and still survive.

And even if you were to die in TFC, in ten seconds you’ll be right back into the fight, less if you can jump (rockets, pipes, grenades). In the same amount of time in TF2, you’ll be walking to the fight if you’re on offence, and waiting out the final ten seconds to spawn on defence.

What boggles my mind then is that people don’t hesitate to run out and get slaughtered in TF2, whereas TFC idiots will get all scared and soil their pants while they’re camping out a corner - on offence.

So in summary, good players can be totally nerfed in TF2. With crits, even a gaggle of poor players can dislodge a good player from a location or outright kill him/her. Unable to spawn immediately and get right back in means that the team is at a material skill deficit.

I used to join the losing team, thinking I could turn it around or at least even the playing field some. Most of the time, I realize that losing is terribly un-fun. I can’t compensate for five, six, players who are effectively blind and/or think they’re pro snipers with zero kills (and thus zero skillz), or a team that for whatever reason has not noticed that no one is playing medic when the winning - nay, steamrolling - side is running three or more (class limits kthxbai).

The crux of the matter is, why are these people playing at all? TFC has always been free so I can’t really say anything when I see atrocious players, unless I’ve seen them be atrocious for the better part of 2 years (like [DAD] oh yes I went there).

But TF2? It has to be bought. With money. Come to think of it, I may not even have much of a case. If you want to spend money to show the world just how much you suck at hand-eye co-ordination, or inability to learn after being killed 3 times in a row in the same damn tunnel, then power to you. I guess it’s not much different from alcohol.

Ouch. Thursdays are looking kind of grim, with a total of 6 hours of class.

So far the weather is holding up, a pretty bizarre statement to be making in January but there you go. When it gets colder, I don’t think I’ll like the late night walk to the subway station. With a number of buildings along College Street, it boggles my mind to see them unconnected.