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Toronto-Age |OT3| Going Off the Rails on a Gravy Train

S

Stet

Banned
i nearly called the cops on my neighbours last night. at 3:00 a.m. it sounded like someone was getting the shit kicked out of them, screaming in chinese and banging around. at one point someone was yelling "FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU" and then someone else after a ton of ruckus yelling "MY TEETH! MY TEETH!"




i listened for a little while longer just in case. they were playing a fucking fighting video game on blast and screaming at each other.
 
Z

zroid

Banned
Stet said:
i nearly called the cops on my neighbours last night. at 3:00 a.m. it sounded like someone was getting the shit kicked out of them, screaming in chinese and banging around. at one point someone was yelling "FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU" and then someone else after a ton of ruckus yelling "MY TEETH! MY TEETH!"




i listened for a little while longer just in case. they were playing a fucking fighting video game on blast and screaming at each other.
Click to expand...

:lol :lol

my neighbourhood is never this eventful :p
 
M

mr.rager

Member
Stet said:
i listened for a little while longer just in case. they were playing a fucking fighting video game on blast and screaming at each other.
Click to expand...

sounds like me and my brother when we're playing street fighter lol

Crappy story for the day. Found a car I've had my eye on for the longest time on kijiji earlier this week and contacted the seller. We agreed that today would be a good day to check out the car. Called him up to let him know that I was on my way to look at the car, then he tells me some guy already put down payment on the car. Normally I'd just let something like this slide but I really really really wanted that car and the fact that he didn't contact me at all to let me know that some guy already put a down payment on the car pissed me off. Shit sucks, Sunday wasted.

It's so beautiful!
HPIM1967.jpg
Click to expand...
 
J

jl4855

Member
mr.rager said:
Crappy story for the day. Found a car I've had my eye on for the longest time on kijiji earlier this week and contacted the seller. We agreed that today would be a good day to check out the car. Called him up to let him know that I was on my way to look at the car, then he tells me some guy already put down payment on the car. Normally I'd just let something like this slide but I really really really wanted that car and the fact that he didn't contact me at all to let me know that some guy already put a down payment on the car pissed me off. Shit sucks, Sunday wasted.
Click to expand...

kijiji, yep.
 
D

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
the controller is hooked up to the tv
the controller has the inferior stick configuration
the right stick is stuck on the positive X axis
the shoulder buttons are tiny and inclined... the dreamcast wrist pain will live on!
it has a what appears to be a cut down 360 d-pad
the buttons are in the nintendo configuration
the cable appears to be no more than 3 feet long and is connected to the bottom of the controller

smells like a scam just on the observations of the controller... how can i trust them if they don't put any effort into their promo material? hmm?
 
S

Sober

Member
Obviously if you don't show video game paraphernalia, you can't capture the attention of gamers long enough to fill out the form.
 
tsurugi no mai

tsurugi no mai

Member
Hey guys!

I'm gonna be heading to Toronto with my girlfriend for a week pretty soon here. I've never been before, and I just wanted to talk to you all about a few things.

1) What is there to do? I looked at the OP, and will take those recommendations into consideration, but I want to hear personal opinions. I'm not into drinking or clubbing, so please keep that in mind.

2) What is parking like? Is it similar to Chicago where you pay for parking nearly everywhere you go?

3) Any places to avoid due to danger/sketchiness? I want to see Toronto, Montreal and Mississauga while I'm there.
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
tsurugi no mai said:
Hey guys!

I'm gonna be heading to Toronto with my girlfriend for a week pretty soon here. I've never been before, and I just wanted to talk to you all about a few things.

1) What is there to do? I looked at the OP, and will take those recommendations into consideration, but I want to hear personal opinions. I'm not into drinking or clubbing, so please keep that in mind.

2) What is parking like? Is it similar to Chicago where you pay for parking nearly everywhere you go?

3) Any places to avoid due to danger/sketchiness? I want to see Toronto, Montreal and Mississauga while I'm there.
Click to expand...
Not sure what your interests are...

Areas to see:
St. Lawrence Market
Distillery District
The Beaches
Kensington Market
Pacific Mall (I guess) / J Town
High Park
Eaton Centre
Walk north from Queen/Yonge up to Bloor
Walk along the PATH (just google this)

Shit to do:
Blue Jays Game
Royal Ontario Museum
Ripley's Aquarium
Toronto Zoo
Ontario Science Centre

Grub to eat:
Best Steak - Jacob's
Best Reasonable Steak - The Keg
Best Burger - Burger's Priest or Holy Chuck (STFU, EM!)
Best Brunch - Lady Marmalade / Bonjour Brioche
Best Ramen - Kinton Ramen or Sansotei Ramen
Best Splurge Sushi - JaBistro
Best Medium Price Sushi - Sushi Moto
Best AYCE Sushi - Ten Ichi
Best Izakaya - Zakkushi
Best Greek - Pantheon
Best Dim Sum - Rol San
Kensington and St Lawrence have a ton of grub there to choose from as well
I frequent the Bathurst and Bloor area quite often for Korean food (Koreatown)

Parking sucks downtown
Generally avoid Entertainment District at night and avoid Jane/Finch
 
A

AlphaTwo00

Member
Game Designer makes 67K in Ontario?

...

right...

I'm just going to let this slide...

Edit: I see, using salary stats from 2001, from the US. Sounds reasonable.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
Kuro Madoushi said:
*good stuff*

... and avoid Jane/Finch
Click to expand...
I'd heard about the Jane/Finch reputation but when I passed by the intersection itself it didn't seem that bad. I saw a mini-mall (No Frills, Shoppers, McDs, Tim Ho etc) and even some kids playing on small amusement rides set up the parking lot. The one odd thing that stuck out to me was the steel bars protecting the Popeye's windows. Otherwise it seemed..normal?
 
Q

Quadratic

Member
Greyface said:
I'd heard about the Jane/Finch reputation but when I passed by the intersection itself it didn't seem that bad. I saw a mini-mall (No Frills, Shoppers, McDs, Tim Ho etc) and even some kids playing on small amusement rides set up the parking lot. The one odd thing that stuck out to me was the steel bars protecting the Popeye's windows. Otherwise it seemed..normal?
Click to expand...

It's (mostly) safe during the day. I say mostly because anything can happen at all hours in that area. However, it's a neighbourhood where a lot of people live and violence isn't happening 24/7. Being there at night alone and walking around like you don't belong you're probably inviting trouble.
 
B

Blackhead

Redarse
Quadratic said:
It's (mostly) safe during the day. I say mostly because anything can happen at all hours in that area. However, it's a neighbourhood where a lot of people live and violence isn't happening 24/7. Being there at night alone and walking around like you don't belong you're probably inviting trouble.
Click to expand...
Aight, that makes sense. The image in my head from the media/stereotypes was that it was some sort of open air drug market with crackheads randomly robbing/killing people i.e. unsafe to even drive past.
 
S

soultron

Banned
I'm a white dude and I've been around that area lots during the daytime hours. I've not been shot/maimed yet. Wouldn't want to try my luck at night, but as long as you're streetsmart you'll be fine during the day.
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
shorty_symd said:
Subscribed. ScotGaffer here thinking about moving to Toronto next year so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.
Click to expand...
Only advice I have is that unless you have skills/experience in a high demand field, try to see if you can't get a job here first before coming if possible. Toronto is atrociously bad for job seekers at this time.

Trades
Medical

Seem to be the big fields that I can name.

The Prairies, Alberta, and the regions up north are where the jobs seem to be as well
 
A

Azih

Member
tsurugi no mai said:
Hey guys!

I'm gonna be heading to Toronto with my girlfriend for a week pretty soon here. I've never been before, and I just wanted to talk to you all about a few things.

1) What is there to do? I looked at the OP, and will take those recommendations into consideration, but I want to hear personal opinions. I'm not into drinking or clubbing, so please keep that in mind.

2) What is parking like? Is it similar to Chicago where you pay for parking nearly everywhere you go?

3) Any places to avoid due to danger/sketchiness? I want to see Toronto, Montreal and Mississauga while I'm there.
Click to expand...

In Mississauga Port Credit is a nice area on the waterfront.
http://www.portcredit.com/

Streetsville is sorta kinda interesting as a street or two that used to be a village and is now swallowed up by suburbia.
http://www.villageofstreetsville.com/ (Note again: It's not a village)

There might be something somewhat interesting happening in Celebration Square in the Mississauga downtown area http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/celebrationsquare
and if not there's the gignator Square One Mall right next to it you can go to.

So Mississauga isn't quite completely hopeless! Hell its skyline impressed some relatives that came over from California. Be prepared for a lot of driving though.

Mississauga: It's not Brampton or Vaughn or Pickering!
 
A

AlphaTwo00

Member
krae_man said:
Hey Minimum wage is 11/hour now. That's close to 67k with crunch overtime.
Click to expand...
krae_man said:
Salaries can't be less then minimum wage. Can't give someone a 30k/year Salary and make them work 70 hour weeks with no overtime pay.
Click to expand...
Crunch time aren't paid time, especially if it's a contract/FTE. Maybe not 30K a year, but hey, I wouldn't be surprised at 40-45K a year. (There was one point I had talked to a company last year within the GTA that had offered 45K for a position, and yes you bet your ass there was overtime)

I've been going on a limb already about how I feel about Toronto game dev (and I think a few do lurk here from various companies), but I'll call it out anyways: I can bet you that 50% of all game dev related jobs in the GTA is under 67K. I'd be willing to say that at least 25% is under 50K.

The fact that chart suggest an animation artist is averaging 69K? Maybe, if you average out US into the mix. Definitely not the case anywhere in Canada.

Oh, also, since the salary survey(sourced from IGDA/GameDevMag) is a self selecting process, people who are more willing to share their experiences are skewing the numbers and reporting higher across the board.
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
krae_man said:
Salaries can't be less then minimum wage. Can't give someone a 30k/year Salary and make them work 70 hour weeks with no overtime pay.
Click to expand...
I think AlphaTwo00 will exp...
AlphaTwo00 said:
Crunch time aren't paid time, especially if it's a contract/FTE. Maybe not 30K a year, but hey, I wouldn't be surprised at 40-45K a year. (There was one point I had talked to a company last year within the GTA that had offered 45K for a position, and yes you bet your ass there was overtime)

I've been going on a limb already about how I feel about Toronto game dev (and I think a few do lurk here from various companies), but I'll call it out anyways: I can bet you that 50% of all game dev related jobs in the GTA is under 67K. I'd be willing to say that at least 25% is under 50K.

The fact that chart suggest an animation artist is averaging 69K? Maybe, if you average out US into the mix. Definitely not the case anywhere in Canada.

Oh, also, since the salary survey(sourced from IGDA/GameDevMag) is a self selecting process, people who are more willing to share their experiences are skewing the numbers and reporting higher across the board.
Click to expand...

:)
 
A

AlphaTwo00

Member
Enough about me bitching about gamedev. Let's talk local: board game shops. Once again I had no luck with getting into snakes with a large group, so we detoured over to Castles (http://castleboardgames.com/) instead. Their selection is actually pretty good (well ahead of the likes of Roll Play Cafe, but still behind Snakes) and had ample seating, but that's to be expected with a $2.5/hour cover charge. If you buy food/drink (which you need to with the other places), it actually averages out to be roughly the same.

Are there any others that I'm missing that I need to be aware of?
 
Q

Quadratic

Member
AlphaTwo00 said:
Enough about me bitching about gamedev. Let's talk local: board game shops. Once again I had no luck with getting into snakes with a large group, so we detoured over to Castles (http://castleboardgames.com/) instead. Their selection is actually pretty good (well ahead of the likes of Roll Play Cafe, but still behind Snakes) and had ample seating, but that's to be expected with a $2.5/hour cover charge. If you buy food/drink (which you need to with the other places), it actually averages out to be roughly the same.

Are there any others that I'm missing that I need to be aware of?
Click to expand...

Here's a list: http://beforelastcall.ca/blog/7-toronto-board-game-cafes-to-help-ruin-friendships

Beware the beard and flannel crowd. Snakes and Lagers will probably result in a flipped table after too many drinks.
 
I

Inspectah Deck

Banned
Has anyone noticed a lot of police presence in the streets? Especially in North York and Scarborough. I've been seeing a lot of security in the Subway Stations (Sheppard-yonge and Don Mills, specifically).
 
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