2nd Year Anniversary!!

Two years ago today, May 18, 2011, I wrote my first article for this blog, the Kosher Samurai.

Here it is!

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I prefer to spell it bl*g or bl*gging.

I have some strange aversion to the way the word is usually spelled. Not sure why. I just do.

I’m sure that, in time, I will succumb and use the full un-asterixed version. But for now, this is my bl*g.

I’ve been inspired (or provoked, depending on one’s point of view) to start up this site by a dear friend of mine.

Shameless plug for dear friend of mine:  XUP

Her writing is quite good. If you haven’t done so already, check it out. Quality stuff, I assure you.

A few details about yours truly…

I’m Jewish and I have a fondness for Japan, Japanese food and Japanese culture.

(Hence the name for this site:  Kosher Samurai)

I am a criminal defence lawyer. Divorced

Two kids:

Exhibit One: 21 yr old daughter

Exhibit Two: 19 yr old son.

That’s all for now, I think. I’m new to this so I need to get past my “green as Gumby” stage and start writing.

Bye for now

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I never thought that two years later, I would still enjoy providing you little geeks and nerdlings out there with my own two cents on life.

I enjoy writing articles for this blog, mixed with some recipes and, of course, lots of stories on movies, science, bugs and bats.

Thanks for reading.

Here’s to another year. And yes, that is a threat.

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Fashionate Encounter at Café

I was at one of my favourite cafés the other day, tapping les mots juste into my Blackberry Playbook when I noticed a charming if somewhat intense young lady at the table next to me.

She appeared to be doing much the same thing (i.e. writing), only with a bit more… oomph!

She frowned. She scowled. She grinned. She sat back, glaring at her laptop monitor. I found it hard to keep my eyes off of her.

As she was packing up and getting ready to leave, some of her stuff… a paperback novel, I believe, and her iPhone… slipped off of her table and into my bag which had until now been sitting patiently by my feet, minding its own business.

She apologized. I said it was nothing and retrieved her book and iPhone for her, showing manly restraint in not checking out what it was she was reading.

I mentioned that I had noticed her getting wrapped up in her writing. She blushed and admitted she often did that, even in public.

I asked what was it that got her so passionate. “I’m writing a blog article… review… about a fashion show I was at last night,” she replied, smiling again.

Passionate about Fashion. In a word, Fashionate!

“Ah,” I said, the proverbial penny dropping. “That explains it. You’re ‘fashionate’ and wrote accordingly.”

She chuckled and said, “Yeah, I guess I am!” She sat back down at her table and we spoke for about 10 minutes.

She said she was a writer and theatrical director. I said I was for 12 years in professional theatre as a lighting designer and stage manager.

We exchanged our two cents on the differences between the theatrical world and the world of fashion.

One of the things upon which we both immediately agreed – while many in the theatre are bitchy and catty, there is nowhere near the sheer viciousness that is regularly and openly displayed in the fashion industry. Even the movie business didn’t compare.

It was so nice to connect with a perfect stranger on such an unusual subject in which we both shared an interest.

She stood up to leave. We shook hands wishing we could spend more time together discussing the topic and how maddening it could be.

“Are you in the neighbourhood often?” she asked. I nodded. “Oh well, then I am sure we’ll run into each other again.”

“It was fun. I hope we can get upset about it again some time soon.”

“I’d like that. But there’s no sense getting all worked up about it, though,” she said, moving a strand of hair from her face. “After all…

“It’s only fashion!” I said, finishing the sentence for her.

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The Great Dead North – First Anniversary

One year ago today, April 25, 2012, I started writing The Great Dead North.

It is a post apocalyptic journal entry novel on Twitter.

When I blogged about it last year, I called it My Twitter Experiment.

Each entry is no more than 140 characters… the maximum allowed per tweet.

I post daily journal entries from the second year in aftermath of the Zombie Apocalypse.

Only a relative handful of people have survived the first year. Food, vehicles, gasoline, medicine and supplies were relatively abundant during the first year. By the second year, gasoline (a highly refined product) has ‘gone bad’ and vehicles no longer run on it. Most of the ‘easy picking’ supplies have been exhausted. Specialized ‘city folk’ are now forced to exist in a hostile environment. Our world, at best, has been plunged back into the Dark Ages. For some survivors, they have been thrown back to the Stone Age.

Please check it out on Twitter and Follow it, if  you like it.

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The Religions of Westeros (Game of Thrones)

Over the holidays, I ran into this video on the religions of Westeros, the land in which much of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones [1] is set.

Fascinating clip. For fans of the books and the show and for people interested in religion, this video is a must see.

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[1] A Game of Thrones is the first book in A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of high fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin. It has been made into a highly successful television series by HBO.

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Why Punctuation Matters!

I saw this the other day and I had to post it here.

It reinforces for me why punctuation matters!

A very happy new year to everyone!

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Check out Facebook.com/grammarly and Grammarly.com!

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My 200th Kosher Samurai Post!

This is my 200th post on this blog site!

It is a happy coincidence that my last post is presently being featured in WordPress’s Freshly Pressed section. [1]

Thanks, WordPress, for the boost and vote of confidence. Youse guys are the most bestest ever.

Thanks to the many arts, cuisine, culture, entertainment, news and especially science sites out there in what we once called the information superhighway. [2]

(Kosher Samurai)

Special thanks to the geeks and nerdlings over at ScienceDaily.com and Scoop.it Science News. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I am constantly flattering all y’all! [3]

Extra special thanks to the lovely, talented and all-round magnificent Chris Conrad who provoked me into publishing my works and words online after me noodging her for years to get her own writing published in what we once called ‘magazines.’ [4]

(Vampyre Fangs)

Thanks most of all to the many people who have been kind and curious enough to stop in for a look at Kosher Samurai and my sister blog, Vampyre Fangs, as well as my ongoing Twitter experiment, the zombie apocalypse journal fiction work The Great Dead North. Your readership, comments and continuing support are very much appreciated.

(The Great Dead North)

For those new to my writing… I publish posts in both Kosher Samurai and Vampyre Fangs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. [5] I tweet on The Great Dead North daily. [6]

Please come back often. If you like what you see, please tell your friends.

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The best of 378,679 bloggers, 810,546 new posts, 1,033,890 comments, & 209,529,601 words posted today on WordPress.com.

[2] Ask your parents.

[3] As I learned in law school, stealing from one person is plagiarism. Stealing from a dozen is ‘research!’

[4] See [2] above.

[5] Excluding national holidays and Jewish holidays.

[6] Excluding Jewish Sabbath (Friday evening until Saturday night after dark) and Jewish holidays.

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Loonies I Have Lunched With (Part 3): Rendezvous at Sadie’s Diner & Juice Bar

If I ever need to set up a quick, informal yet special rendezvous with someone near and dear to me, I choose Sadie’s Diner & Juice Bar in downtown Toronto.

Sadie’s is on the northwest corner of Portland and Adelaide streets. One block east of Bathurst and two blocks south of Queen Street West.

My dearly beloved friend, CC, introduced me to the place when she and I set up a lunch date just before she moved to Toronto from Ottawa. As an extra bonus attraction, CC brought along her daughter, EC (aka CC Jr, aka Volume 2).

My darling CC is the one you can blame for getting me started with this whole blogging thing. She herself is a top-knotch writer and I have often encouraged her (i.e. nagged her) to send her writing to The New Yorker. I feel her writing is as good as most of the Shouts & Murmurs articles I’ve read and enjoyed at the back of the magazine.

The get-together with my dear CC was my first time at Sadie’s Diner and CC was right on the money about choosing that as the perfect spot. She and I had a wonderful get-together and I sincerely hoped that EC wasn’t too bored out of her mind.

A few months later, when my own daughter (Exhibit One) and I planned a bit of a downtown rendezvous, I immediately suggested Sadie’s. Once again, it was the perfect choice. She and I sat at a table near the front window. The service was wonderful, my daughter loved the food and the atmosphere and I had one of my best times with her.

She thought the place was just wonderful. One of the things that simply tickled my daughter to death was a plastic cow milk dispenser.

(Exhibit Two’s favourite milk dispenser. Note my wallet absent-mindedly left on the table)

Together, we carefully plotted my daughter’s emigration to Israel at that tiny little table. I am sure that in due course, I will arrange a clandestine meeting with my son, Exhibit Two, and begin plotting his emigration to Israel. I have no doubt that he and I will meet at Sadie’s Diner, hopefully at that same little table near the front window. That spot has brought me much luck in the past.

The good times I’ve had there have endeared Sadie’s Diner & Juice Bar to me. It holds a special place in my heart.

Sadie’s is cozy, informal, yet at the same time very chic and hip in a quirky downtown way. Each time I’ve been there, it has been a wonderful experience shared by those nearest and dearest to me. But take some free advice on this subject… don’t waste Sadie’s on ordinary, average, dull, boring people. Save it for the quirky, exciting people in your life. Share it with that special friend who is the artist, photographer, writer, adventurer, actor or just the one that’s odd and weird but in a good way. Save it for that certain loonie in your life without whom you simple cannot do.

I have promised another dearly beloved friend, AC, a get-together in Toronto. She too is a most talented writer and would, no doubt, get a kick out of Sadie’s. I am long overdue for a face to face tête-à-tête with her.

AC has recently threatened to interview me and I feel I should take her up on her ill-conceived offer. I am in favour of and try actively to encourage reckless behaviour in others and I want to show my support however and whenever I can.

So next time you are in the Bathurst and Queen neighbourhood… or even if you just want to plan a lunch downtown with that special beloved oddball in your life, I recommend Sadie’s Diner.

I’ve never regretted it and I am sure you won’t either.

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Sadie’s Diner & Juice Bar

504 Adelaide Street West

Toronto, Ontario

M5V 1T5

 

416-777-2343

416-77-SADIE

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