I had not visited Snakes and Lattes post-renovation until a few days ago. The wall between both sides had been torn down, resulting in a much more open space. The bar became larger and the front area a big storefront for board games.
Picking completely random things from the shelves are my specialty so I chose King of Tokyo
In the game you choose a monster and literally try to take over Tokyo. A set of die is rolled to determine what happens: gain cubes to buy cards, attack, gain victory points. The first to 20 victory points or the last survivor wins.
Ricochet Robots
Except with robots.
The person who solves the most puzzles in the least amount of moves wins.
This Survive!
The game is from the 1980’s and I have to hand it to them, it was quite entertaining. The island in the middle disappears as you take turns flipping parts of it over. The premise of the game is to try and get as many of your people to the safe islands as possible with some people worth more points than others. The board is full of distractions such as whirlpools, sharks, sea monsters and whales that make life much harder for your coloured dudes.
Post-renovation, Snakes and Lattes had a few new things on the menu including a Nutella Latte.
Of course, I tried it.
Entertainment
I Haven’t Been To The Science Centre in 10 Years
Yesterday Nash, my cousin William and I went to the Ontario Science Centre to check out the Game On 2.0 video game exhibition. The exhibit, located on the level 6 of the Science Centre featured vintage game art, pinball machines and of course playable games.
One of my favourites was Space War. The premise of the game was there were two space ships controlled by two players. I really liked the sounds and the shiny lights that the ships used as bullets. The three of us also spent a great deal of time playing Gauntlet (which I forgot to photograph), a hilarious 1985 hack and slash where we could play as a warrior, wizard, valkyrie or elf. The most entertaining part of the game was the game voice that announced things such as “Your wizard is about to die” or “Don’t Shoot the Food”. All the games in the exhibit were free to play so we continued the game until we got stuck in a maze.
Tron had the coolest music, but we had no idea how to play the game. Most of our lives were lost in less than five seconds. Thank god we weren’t wasting quarters!
I forgot that in Donkey Kong if you fall down the holes, you die.
They had this Virtusphere thing that sadly wasn’t opened to public yet. We talked to the staff and they said it was a virtual gaming simulation that was to open in April. The sphere was to simulate walking in a game.
Here are some other games and things we saw in the exhibit:
Egg Head Pinball Machine
Donkey Kong Concept Art
Pong!
Virtual Fighter
Centipede
Handheld Tron
NBA Jam. Will creamed me and Nash
A Slow Year- The Explanation
A Slow Year- The Box
A Slow Year. A game where you watch landscapes. Seriously.
After we were all gamed out we ventured through the rest of the Science Centre in no particular order. Here are some photos:
Evolution of Rocks
I’m driving a Space thing
All the needles point north
The Impossible Ladder
This room makes me look taller than Nash
Some hot, some cold
The Rainforest
I thought this would electrocute me
William has 45L of water in him
We’re all in our 20s and probably a bit too old to be there, but we still had a ton of fun walking around.
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore
I always wondered what it would be like to write fiction that took place in today’s world. Robin Sloan pulled it off in his mysterious novel Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore.
The premise is the main character, Clay Jannon, works in a bookstore that is open at all hours of the night. He soon realizes the books in the “Wayback” catalogue are full of strange codes instead of text and story. There is a strange cult of people that take out these books and of course Clay decides to find out more about them.
Sloan writes in a way that is so believable I had to look up if some of the things actually exist. It takes place in a strange San Francisco book store, one of the characters work for Google and it also involves a reddit-style mystery man.
It’s a short easy read for those looking for a geeky codebreaking adventure in the present-day. It wouldn’t surprise me if this ever turned into a movie one day.
The Power of Why
As adults, we have grown up thinking that questioning the norm is faux-pas. As a child we go through school systems where the one that asks the most questions is usually the most annoying kid. The one with the bad grades. We have learnt to spew out the right answers for good grades without much questions. It’s the way we’re taught, to get all As in order to get into a university, get a job etc. This creates generations of people who forget how to be curious.
In Amanda Lang’s The Power Of Why
I was one of those people who didn’t really question much in school but I grew more curious after reading this book. It’s a good read for people who want to learn how to be more innovative or look at the world a little differently. Every once in a while, we should remember what is like to be that 3 year old kid who can’t stop asking Why?.
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
It’s never too late to start over. Even if you are an 100 year old man who is stuck in a nursing home. That’s the premise of of this Jonas Jonassan novel.
100 year old Alan jumps out the window in the beginning of the book and gets himself into a wild and somewhat absurd adventure. The chapters alternate between the adventure and telling the entire history of the 100 year old man’s life up to the point where he jumps out the window. The style of writing was adorable, but quite simple third person style with short sentences.
Alan’s life story delves with a lot of world history (partially fictional of course). As a person who has never quite been into politics and history, I learnt a lot of the political view points of past world leaders. I wish high school history was this exciting, or had elephants.
The $100 Startup
I recently read Chris Guillebeau’s book The $100 Startup. It had a lot of stories and anecdotes of entrepreneurs which make a decent living (50k or more) doing what they love. What I enjoyed about the book is that it didn’t just focus on multi-million dollar startups like Facebook, but ones from regular people.
The book also has a short exercises for people interested in starting their own business. I emphasize short because the main message of the book is not to ponder forever on if you should do something, but to just do it.
Guillebeau mentions this quote by Karl Marx:
“Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity”
I thought this was an interesting way to think of things. Consumers will buy things because they are easy and convenient. People don’t go to a restaurant because they want to be taught how to make the dish. Regardless of whether you currently have a business idea or not, the book is an inspiring read and makes you re-think what it means to be happy in life. Is it money or thought of doing something you love?
I know somewhere down the line I will probably have my own business and I will definitely give this book another read.
Dear J.K. Rowling, Stop Ruining Books
This post isn’t really about the fact she killed some of the best characters in Harry Potter, but I thought she wasn’t going to do that again. Dear JK Rowling, The Casual Vacancy was a horribly written book.
I always finish books, so I have read the entire thing cover to cover. The characters, although living in a fictional society seemed like they were meant to be realistic. After all, she was trying to prove she could write an adult fiction novel that didn’t involve wizards and magic. However, Rowling draws stereotypes to their extreme. There’s the kid who thinks too much about being “authentic”, the kid who lives in a house of domestic abuse, the poor child living in the drug-addict ridden neighbourhood etc. It’s not even creative and the events in the book seem to be put in for mere shock factor. Drugs, rape, violence, deaths, infidelity.. basically the whole 9 yards.
Most of the book is about people being petty and selfish eventually succumbing to their desires. The children also enjoying ruining the lives of the adults and there is no resolution for these problems.
You come to really care for this one troubled teen with a drug addicted mother and get tricked into thinking her life will be better in the end. BUT THEN SHE FUCKING DIES. I’m not one to judge graphic content matter in a book, but all of the events in The Casual Vacancy were pointless. They didn’t lead anywhere or teach anything. I’ve read books that made me cry or made me think deeply about a subject. This book just left me vacant. Maybe that was what she wanted. Haha, you got me J.K. Rowling.
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened
I don’t think I truly knew what embarrassment meant until I read Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)
The book teaches some valuable life lessons especially to be proud of who you are. Jenny suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, OCD, depression and anxiety, but she makes people laugh and isn’t afraid to share her unfortunate stories of both her past and present with the world. She loves the life that has shaped her into who she is today.
I have now become a follower of her blog The Bloggess. It is equally as hilarious as the book and really motivates me to share some silly stories from my past that were no where near as personal or embarrassing. She would probably think I’m crazy for saying her book is an inspiration.
Things I Learnt From Silver Linings Playbook
After hearing all the award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook, I thought I’d give it a chance. Otherwise, I don’t usually go out to see romantic comedies. I have to admit I like it more than I thought.
Here are some things I learnt from the movie (warning may contain spoilers):
– If you stalk someone enough they will fall in love with you
– Lie if you can’t get what you want
– All the books you were forced to read in school are depressing.
– Sometimes your lies might turn into truths
– Superstitious routines actually work.
– It’s okay to bet your life savings on things.
– Dancing with another woman may win you your ex-wife back
– Mental institutions are racist because they seem to keep sending Chris Tucker back with no explanation.
– “Excelsior!” is actually the New York motto
Hikari Oe and The Music of Light
After reading Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia, my boyfriend lent me The Music of Light- The Extraordinary Story of Hikari and Kenzaburo Oe written by Lindsley Cameron. It chronicles the life of Hikari Oe, a boy who was born with a growth on his brain the size of almost another brain. His father Kenzaburo Oe after much thought and reflection decided to operate on the growth and Hikari survived. However, he suffered a form of autism, vision loss and constant seizures. Despite not being able to absorb knowledge and learn everyday tasks like most people, Hikari became one of Japan’s most renowned composers.
The book dealt thoroughly analyzed the connections between Kenzaburo Oe’s writing who was deeply inspired by Hikari and used it to tell the story of their lives. While very interesting, some of the book was rather repeated with sometimes entire section being stated again somewhere else in the book. In addition to telling the story of their lives, it also analyzes musical savants (even quoting some of Sacks’ work) and how Hikari is different from the norm because of his ability to compose music. Overall the book rejoiced on the positive qualities of Hikari’s condition.
I looked up some of Hikari Oe’s music after reading this book and found it simply beautiful. It is not over complicated and often inspired by music of classical composers like Mozart. It has a lovely calming effect.
Tiana Feng 