2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Part I: Good Will Hunting and Graffiti Alley

Good Will Hunting was mostly shot in and takes place in Boston. What most people don't know is some of the scenes were shot in Toronto. I don't know why this was needed as they are minor interior and exterior shots.

106 Front East St.

This is the bar where Will meets Skylar.

Whitney Hall, University of Toronto

This is the entrance Will goes into to go to Skylar's dorm room to convince her to take the afternoon off.

133 Church St.

This is the curio shop they hang out in. She puts on the blue eyeshadow glasses and he performs the magic trick.

120 Bloor St.

This is the lobby Will waits in for his interview.

Graffiti Alley

One of the more interesting spots in Toronto is Rush Lane, otherwise known as, Graffiti Alley. It was started by the city in 2012 as a way of reducing graffiti artists from tagging all over Toronto. It is located south of Queen, between Spadina and Portland.

I have always been in awe of graffiti. The level of talent needed to create these intricate pieces fascinates me. 

The End of an Era - David "Big Papi" Ortiz Retires

Boston is the best city for sports fans. I quickly Googled best cities for sports fans and the first three articles I clicked on ranked Boston #1.

Every sports town has its heroes. We follow them on Twitter/Instagram, buy oversized clothing with their name and number on the back, and we put ourselves in the shoes at the winning moment.

In baseball, there have been many heroes in its 100 year plus history. Starting with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams through Bo Jackson, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey, Jr., The Bash Brothers to Mike Trout, Max Verlander, Giancarlo Stanton, and Jason DeGrom.

But there is one contemporary player whose popularity is the stratosphere, David "Big Papi" Ortiz. I cannot think of another Red Sox player who enjoys the same amount of popularity.

His MLB career started with the Minnesota Twins in 1997 and played with them until 2002 when he was cut from the team. It was a chance meeting in 2003 when Ortiz bumped into Red Sox pitcher, Pedro Martinez. Martinez remember Ortiz from a home run hit off of him. Martinez immediately contacted team officials to have them sign Ortiz. The rest is history! Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and Ortiz retired in 2016.

Hall of Fame numbers aside, it is his outgoing and gregarious personality which made him so popular and his speech after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings propelled him to god-like in Red Sox Nation. Crushing 20 walk-off hits certainly did not hurt, two of those were home runs in the playoffs

MLB Career Stats

Home Runs: 541
Doubles: 632
RBIs: 1768
Hits: 2472
Batting Average: .286
Clutch Hits: 20

MLB Awards

World Series Champ: 3
All-Star Team: 10
Home Run Derby: 1
Silver Slugger: 7
RBI Leader: 3

David Ortiz returned to Boston in June of 2017 to have his number retired.

Next stop, Cooperstown, NY!

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in Concert

Everyone has seen Star Wars, right? No, there are a few holdouts for whatever reason have not accepted The Force. Also, I live with one. My efforts in persuading her to watch Star Wars were ignored. Several times.

Then while scrolling through Instagram, I came across an advertisement for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They were screening Star Wars with live musical accompaniment. Wait, say that again!
The movie will be shown with the score taken out and the BSO conducted by Keith Lockhart will play the music from the movie live. I call Miss Holdout and ask her if the night they are playing the movie we are free. She said yes and I explain to her there will never be a better way to be introduced to the franchise. She is in!

Watching such a great movie and listening to the music being played by a live orchestra was an amazing experience. Even better was Miss Holdout throughly enjoyed the movie itself.

We were planning to attend, "The Empire Strikes Back", at Symphony Hall in May. Unfortunately, with the world on hold due to the Coronavirus, the movie has been cancelled.

Boston Light - 300 Years of Service

Many institutions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts date back hundreds of years. Harvard University is 214 years older than the state of California. It is not uncommon to see date markers for various buildings from the late 1600s.

One such institution is Boston Light. It is a lighthouse in Boston Harbor on Little Brewster Island. The original was built in 1716, but it was burned down twice. It was rebuilt in 1783 and in 1856, the tower was extended to 30 meters (98 feet).

You can buy tickets online to go to the island and climb to the top of the tower. However, the day I went, was National Parks Day. This meant the ticket was gratis! The weather cooperated perfectly as it was a stunningly gorgeous summer day.

Half of the fun of getting to Little Brewster Island is the ferry ride through Boston Harbor!

Replica of the Fresnel light. I could not get a good of this light in the tower as the dimensions did not allow for a decent shot of it.

Next stop, Ireland!

Boston, to the east