Anime North

The Toronto Congres Center was home to the Anime North convention. Now, I will be honest, I have no idea of who, or even what, these guys were dressed as, but for sure enjoyment, you just can't beat events like this, and things like the Fan Expo or various Comic Cons.

Some of the costumes had themes, like "BIG".
There were Big Hands;



Big Guns:







And Big Heads:



Many had very elaborate, home built costumes:













While others had simple things, like contacts, that made them stand out as well!



These guys had great costumes,



and ended up winning an award for their efforts.



Fotunately for me, I didn't have to pay to get in, becuase I didn't need to be inside, as many of those attending were outside, enjoying the weather as the sun was out.





Another person on hand was Lady Vezina, who was advertising (very effectively if you ask me) for Cinched Tight Corsets!

Wings and Wheels

Not much of an old car fan, but i do appreciate many of the wings that were to be on display at the Wings and Wheel Heritage Festival at the fomer Downsview base, home to the Canadian Air and Space Museum.
Scheduled to appear planes included the CF-18 Hornet, the Golden Hawks replica Sabre, the C-130J Super Hercules, the T33 Silver Star, the AM640/Global TV Helicopter and the CF Griffon.
Unfortunately, bad weather scrubbed the T33, the Sabre was in the hanger,



The CF 18 was on static display, along with the Griffon, so the only thing I saw in the air was the a Harvard



and the Fairchild PT-26B Cornell and de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk from Hamilton's Canadian Warplane Heritage.
Inside the museum were some of the models of famous canadian aircraft, including the CF-100 Canuck, a canadian designed and built interceptor,



along with a really big model, of a really big plane, the CF 101 Arrow.





In another hanger, there were lots of items on sale, incuding these beer can planes,



and these Mahogany Arrows.



It was neat to get up close to the Hornet, so I took some pics of both ends of the two engines that provide the performance of Canada's front line aircraft.





Also on display was this MD 520N NOTAR Helicopter, which has NO TailRotor, and instead uses a vented, rotating drum at the end of the tailboom, called the direct jet thruster, which replaces the tail rotor. Its said to be both quieter and safer.



A common thing you see at air shows are brightly colour "Remove Before Flight" ribbons, which is what I thought of when I saw this little guy!

Join the Circus!

As it was the Victoria Day long weekend, with the British Union Jack flying at City Hall,



I decided to go down to the Harbourfront Centre to check out the activities. The crowds were entertained by Vague de Cirque

First on stage was a lovely woman in a large pink dress,



who unfortunately did not have the greates legs in the world!



She sang an opera, Madame Butterfly!



Then a gymnast came out and did amazing things, hanging from a hoop from the roof,



including this move, where the only thing holding her up was the back of her neck!



After that, the pink dress lady was back, but trying to distract the juggler,



who did an amazing watching his balls!





Also performing was a contortionist, who moved her body in to what I can only assume are some painfull positions.



The highlite of the show was this guy, who came out with a very large hoop. I thought he was going to hoola hoop it, but instead, he became a human gyroscope, twirling the hoop while he was inside. It was very original, and a great show to see.







Then they all came out to take there bow to the crowd, and I guess the juggler was tempted by the lady during the rest of the show, as they came out with a baby!



Wandering the site a couple of very tall people!





As well as this dog that seems to be saying "set me free"!

Scale racing

I've been shooting for Inside Track Magazine for the past few years, experiencing stock car, indy car, and touring car racing. This was a first for me, R/C racing.
An appropriately named R/C shop, Average Joes, held an event near at the Vineland Speedway, in Jordan Station (famous for the rusting ship in the harbour on the QEW just before St Catherines), with lots of racers on hand to race the dirt track.
This is not an easy thing to shoot, as they are small race cars, moving fast, along with all the dirt thrown up, but it was fun to try.

The end of the track was a series of three jumps, which some cars were taking all at once!








Some didn't make it though!







The drivers did a great job, winding their way through the multimple turns on the track.