Looking for oil in all the wrong places

The continued climb of oil and gas prices is of great concern to many. No longer does gas go up in fractions of a cent, it rises in nickels and dimes overnight and like a flu the adjacent gas stations raise their prices in lock step with the competition (cough, cough). 

My namesake and famous economist, James Hamilton of econbrowser, has identified rising gas prices as the probable causes of a number of recessions – he calls the situation an Oil Shock, so I hope that the current economic mess doesn’t get messier as we quickly approach $1.40 a litre.

I think that resourceful people of Toronto have even started to take matters into their own hands by drilling for oil throughout the city. At first I thought these drill rigs were putting in caissons to support new condos, but a careful review and a big imagination later, I think they are seeking sweet crude which keeps the world running. Now I start to see oil rigs everywhere. I do believe that the art installation at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre is a cover-up for an oil derrick, right under our own noses. But they probably need the oil to pay for the hockey players high wages, probably paid in US dollars or even by the barrel.

Floating Forest in Brookfield Place

The art installation titled ‘Floating Forest’ by Canadian artist Max Streicher hangs over the heads of people walking through the great hall of Brookfield Place. The trees are manufactured from recycled billboard vinyl and are a memorial to lost forests. The “mirage in an urban landscape” has trees that maintain their shape with internal fans so “It is a forest on life support, pointing to the futility of a civilization whose aspirations are frequently in conflict with the earth.” The piece will be in the long hall of the Allen Lambert Galleria from until April 22, 2011.

 Check out the Brookfield Place events page for upcoming events.

Walking under words - Direct Energy Centre

The long hall of the Direct Energy Centre has a hanging art installation that is a nice compliment to the shape and light in the convention centre. The words hang vertically and I can't even remember trying to read them - so I had to check out my picture and see that they appear to be just names, like Amy and Beatrice.

Here are some other people hanging out in the great hall after the jump.

Now with fuel surcharge

With the latest crank up in oil prices the gasoline costs are going through the roof and many airlines, like Air Canada, are starting to add fuel surcharge fees to your ticket prices - just like Canada Post charges for parcel delivery. You can find these surcharges on many other purchases and some places that will probably bring back surcharges, such as cruise ship vacations, if the price of oil continues to rise. In honour of this I have added a hidden fee, fuel surcharge into this blog.

I don't know if we will see any more fire art installations like the one found at a past WOW, Wild on Winter: Wintercity Festival.

Banksy in the alley

Banksy's Toronto graffiti still survives, barely, in a few places. Luckily he picked the right alley on Church Street because the building next door looks like it is coming down, while the second one away is down - done like dinner, nothing left but the splinters.

I was surprised to see that the Church Street Keg Restaurant has moved out of it's old building and into a new home on The Esplanade. I worked in that Keg for one night covering their staff party night - that's right I used to work for the Keg (Mississauga (the old Dixie-Dundas Keg) and the Brampton (the old downtown Brampton Keg)). Sadly, I just noticed that all my old Keg Restaurants are gone! I met and married my wife when we worked at the Keg and I have a ton of great memories from those days. Rock on Keg Staff.

Yummy Chocolate Kitchen

Using 2,000 pounds of chocolate and sugar, Alain Roby built a replica of his home kitchen. The chocolate kitchen comes complete with cabinets, a stove, a sink, a tiled backsplash, teapots and dishes. The master pastry chef began work on the project last year when he received a chocolate donation from Belgian chocolaterie Callebaut. He started off by melting the chocolate into molds he designed himself and then connected the parts using more chocolate. He then made the dishes using sugar, glazed the tiles and sculptured them into the desired shapes. Roby is also famous for building a 20-foot chocolate skyscraper and a 22-foot-tall Christmas tree made of chocolate.

Awesome Lip Art

Awesome lip art dedicated to all the beautiful Ladies.

Trees Come Alive In Colorado

Talk about turning an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan – Curtis Killorn is single handedly reviving dead trees in Colorado by painting them in bright beautiful colors. The result, as these beautiful pictures show, is magnificent. I absolutely love this original and very creative art work and thank the artist for generously sharing his pictures and link with me.