Turn-it-up

As most of you know, my schedule in late August always includes managing a booth my company has at the Canadian National Exhibition. It's not my favourite thing in the world as the CNE is quite crazy and that coupled with still having to do my regular job and my slo-pitch team getting ready for the play-offs, this isn't my favourite time of year.

The biggest problem is the lack of decent and healthy food for me to eat when I am there. The Food Building is one of the biggest attractions at the CNE, but to be honest. It is really just a glorified food court. However, this year, I have finally found salvation. And it's name is The Falafel Hut.

They have chicken shawarma. Yes there are a lot of shawarma places in Toronto but they usually do not come close to what they have in Ottawa. In Ottawa, shwarma places are as plentiful as pizza places in Toronto. But in Ottawa, they add one ingredient that Toronto places do not and that is beets. Imagine, a pita filled with chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, hot sauce, garlic sauce and tahini...then top it off with the crunch of pickled turnips. Many a time, Coglero and I, after a night of drinking in Ottawa have headed to Shawarma King for a late night snack of Shawarma. This one place we go, near the Byward Market has a guy who clearly could pass as the Shawarma nazi. Super nice guy, but if you move to slow, he will let you know. One time he was there and he yelled at this young couple in line in front of us because they were too busy smooching as opposed to moving forward. You do not want to mess with this guy.

Anyway, the fact is, most Toronto shawarma places do not have turnips. I went to one place in Scarborough and they looked at me like I was crazy when I even dared to ask if they had them. Now that I am basically stuck at the CNE until Labour Day, the employees of the Faleful Hut are going to get to know me very well.

Getting back to the CNE, I tell you, that place is filled with degenerates. Couples with way too many kids and way too much time on their hands. Our booth serves a nice function, it's free and it's a good branding opportunity for our network. But rest assured, I will be happy when it's over. To make things even worse, we are stuck in the only non-airconditioned building in the CNE so on hot days...it is almost unbearable in there.

The CNE feels so representative of my whole life. I remember being in public school and we would always get a free kids' pass to go to the CNE with our final report card. I remember my Dad taking me and my cousin Dave every summer. Then as I got older, I would go with friends as it was easy to find places to drink where they would not ask you for ID. But now that I am in my 30s, it just feels like a waste. An opportunity to spend money to get in and then get to spend even more money once you are there. In other words, a big ugly money grab. If J-Mac and I are going to go there, we might as well head up to Canada's Wonderland where at least you can get much better rides.

By the way, J-Mac wrote a much better blog entry about the Ex yesterday. It is a fascinating read about the history of the place with some great pix.

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Snakes On A Plane update...it only made 16 million in it's opening weekend. This means, despite the pre-advertising for it, it will not make it's money back during it's theatre run. Rest assured, it will clean up once it is on video. However, it proves that no matter of how much pre-release buzz you get going for a movie, you still need to put out a decent product in order to get people to go.

Interestingly enough, during a screening of the movie in Pheonix, Arizona last weekend, two pranksters released a couple of venemous diamondback rattlers causing widespread panic. Snake wranglers had to be called in to collect them. No one was injured during the incident and the culprits have not been caught. Officials believe the snakes were smuggled into the theatre in backpacks.

Top 5 Best Samuel L. Jackson movies

1. Pulp Fiction

2. Do The Right Thing

3. Die Hard: With A Vengeance

4. Goodfellas

5. The Long Kiss Goodnight