2019 in Toronto - part two of two parts.

...or "Put yo weight on it!"

It all started (yeah, not the mark of a great story teller, but go with it, huh?) when I saw the trailer for Dolemite is My Name (you could argue that it started when I heard that the film was in pre-production, but let's not). Damn, do I want to see this! Unfortunately, it's a Netflix exclusive and I don't have (nor do I possess much of a desire to possess) a Netflix account. Fudge.

Then, one day, I'm idly checking the website for the North Park Theater to see if there are any interesting weekend Family Matinees. It is there that I find that the latest Scorsese film, The Irishman will be playing for (presumably) a one-week engagement starting November 22nd. Not to bury the lede, but The Irishman is also a Netflix exclusive.

Emboldened by this news, I leap to the theater's Facebook page and ask if there's a chance that Dolemite is My Name might also play locally. To date, I have not received an answer to this question.

On a whim, I check the TIFF website and they are playing Dolemite is My Name for a one-week engagement. I imagine what I would do on a day that I went up there to see the film. Given the shape of my car, driving up there was not a viable option. What was I to do?

Enter GO Transit.

How this works is if you drive up to Niagara Falls (Canadian side), you can leave your car and take the train to the Union Station in Toronto.

I bounced between the 11th and the 17th, but I ultimately settled on the 14th. 'But that's a work day', he said, rhetorically. I can always get that day off...and I did.

As with the year's earlier trip, my iPhone was invaluable...mainly because the tickets had to be downloaded; no printing them off of computers. (Somehow, I had a feeling I'd need my charger.)

The ride there was not without its bumps, which is to say delays, not literal bumps. Despite my phone distracting me well enough, it took nearly an hour past the scheduled arrival time to get to Union Station in Toronto.

To get to where I needed to go, I had to buy a ticket for $3.25. Unfortunately, I had only 20s. No problem. I'll just break it with a bag of chips. Getting back to the ticket situation, I had no idea how to get one, but a custodian was nice enough to instruct me.

Ticket in hand, I head into the city. Weirdly enough, I wanted to do more than see a movie in Toronto. My first stop was picking up where I left off and going to the BMV Books on Bloor Street West. Well, just need to take the train.

While riding, I spot a blind homeless gentleman on a riding scooter...and wearing no shoes. Even with that, I dump two quarters into his bucket. I doubt I'm gonna be needing them.

I get off at Spadina Station and walk up Bloor Street West. Much to my surprise, the buses are on Sunday schedule; while it may be Columbus Day in the States, it's Thanksgiving Day up here.

Thankfully, my first destination isn't that far away. I head for BMV Books, only to find that it opens at noon...a few minutes away. What the hell can I do but wait around?

Noon soon comes and I go in, heading downstairs to the CDs. Unfortunately, there's nothing here to catch my interest. (And it's only later on that I realize that the BMV I need to go to is on Queen Street West. Next time, Gadget. Next time.)

My time significantly wasted, I haul ass back to Spadina Station to catch the train to St Andrew. (Weird tidbit: I used the map app on my phone and though the phone was useless underground, it still detailed the steps I needed to take to get to where I wanted to go.)

With about ten minutes left, I made it to TIFF Bell Lightbox, taking a shortcut through an office building to get to King Street.

Waiting in line wasn't easy, as there were people taking pictures on their phones as opposed to actually getting tickets. I got to the front of the line and bought my ticket.

The screening room was huge with about twenty other patrons settling in. The screen showed stills of movies that they were playing in the future. Way too artsy-fartsy for me. I'm about having a good time at the movies, and speaking of...

Dolemite is My Name was a blast. Very much in the spirit of Ed Wood (yeah, I know, same writers) and just as enjoyable. A superb, better-be-Oscar-nominated performance from Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore and a hilarious scene-stealing turn from Wesley Snipes as D'Urville Martin. Overall, well worth the 14 bucks.

Even with me enjoying the movie so much, the back of my mind was weighing heavily with a) my phone running out of juice and b) my train scheduled to leave at a certain time...and I had one more place I wanted to go. Checking my phone, it was 37 minutes to get there by subway and about as much time to get to Union Station. Thankfully, there was a cab up the street.

The (I assume) Malaysian gentleman behind the wheel was nice enough and (again, I assume) he apparently learned to drive from watching NASCAR on television. Not an insult, BTW; I got there in the half the time estimated by my phone.

To wash the taste of that hippie shit I encountered at The Night Baker in August out of my mind, I went back to Craig's Cookies. A bit rich, no doubt, but when I want cookies, I want them chocolate-based. I opted for one Snickers, two Reese's Pieces and three traditional chocolate chip (and, probably because of the holiday, I got another traditional for free).

Both of these endeavors cost $15 each and it turns out that the quarter I saved came in handy after all for the cab ride.

According to my phone, the best way to get back to Union was taking a streetcar (operating at a good clip, unlike the buses). To my surprise, the ticket I bought when I first arrived was now worthless, so I had to buy another. Four dollars it would cost, this time.

Now, when I get to Union Station, I'm confused as to which way to go. There's a part for buses and a part for trains. I have a good amount of time left, but I'm still a little nervous. I go into a building and ask for help. The lady there directs me to a building with six glass doors.

Not too far away is a building with six glass doors. There seems to be the place I should be and there's a place to charge my phone! Not so fast.

A person working there directs me to go up the stairs and through a tunnel. From there, I end up on a platform for the train. Unfortunately, it's the wrong platform. I follow a family that apparently made the same mistake down to a different level...and this one has a food court!

But there's no time to fool around with that. My train leaves at 4:10 and I'd much prefer to be on it. I head down the stairwell marked '8', which is where my train is waiting.

With all of my belongings and my phone cued up for my return trip, I get on the train and take a seat...only to find that my train was set to leave at 4:18. Deciding where to eat, waiting for the food to be prepared, eating it in time to make the train...yeah, those eight minutes would not have made a difference.

Unlike the trip into Toronto, the trip back runs a lot smoother; no unscheduled stops and I'm able to charge my phone.

Two hours later, I'm back in Niagara Falls. Admittedly, I'm still pretty hungry, so I decide that if I see any places worth eating at, I'll stay for a spell, but if not, we're getting dinner back home. I run across a Tim Hortons and a McDonald's. No dice.

I make my way down the QEW toward my hometown. Before long, I'm at the border answering questions about my trip (and not exactly forthright about the Craig's Cookies I'm bringing back). Fortunately, I'm sent on my way. I pick up dinner from Wendy's and return to my house.

If I do a Toronto trip in the future, I'm definitely traveling through GO Transit. Efficient and exciting...and it's good to have a map of the subways to get around faster if I need to.