The Alder Grove: Toronto

So, I finally got to see Lawrence Krauss deliver a talk live! And - I got to meet Jason from Twitter! He thanked me for letting him know about the talk. I have the best luck with meeting cool people via science events (especially the physicist in question). After so many occasions where the timing just didn't work out (and not counting that debate in March where I had to listen to all that creationist BS), it was awesome to be front and center to hear Professor Krauss talk science. And we've ... sort of met twice now. Back in March at the "afterparty" when he was done with that debate, he came into the room fairly near to where I was and was heading back to get a beer. Before I could utter a word he said, "I saw you sitting in the front row. I appreciate you coming.". Granted I was right in his line of sight and bedecked with my atheist pins but he rather floored me at that moment. I did get a signature on my copy of "A Universe From Nothing" in between him flirting, talking to friends and fielding a few dumb questions. :) Then there was the brief encounter at the Reason Rally VIP party. Very noisy and not conducive to much conversation. Plus...academics and free booze. Just sayin'. I hear things. Bree and I did get a pic though, which was among the many highlights of the day.

If you haven't yet seen the fantastic talk he gave in Toronto, you should check it out:

Trek Talks: Lawrence Krauss on Star Trek and Science

After answering as many questions as time would allow, he came out to the lobby to sign books. I made him a little gift...because I am *that* much of a nerd, lol. But really, because I appreciate just how much of his time he gives to the public and how much negativity gets dumped on him a lot of the time in return. With all of his writing articles and books, doing public lectures, appearing on TV a lot to communicate recent discoveries to the public and always being willing to respond to emails and Twitter comments...it must take serious time out of his research. And yet he does it all with such patience, charm and humour. And people find it necessary to constantly give him grief for his opinions. So, I thought a little "thank you" was in order. I spent a few weeks putting together an album of photography, quotes and some poetry with a personal note on the last page. Though a camera lens is how I view most things. Though as I've gotten older, I find less need to "hide" behind a camera to avoid becoming involved in things. But when you sort of see things as a series of individual moments, you do learn to really take in the small details. I might do a whole blog about that at some point (likely on the Wordpress site). But I am digressing here.

The benefit to having encountered the good professor a couple of times in the past (and not having made too much of a fool of myself either time, shockingly) was that I wasn't quite so nervous this time around. We had a very nice little chat. I told him the gift was for, "never telling me to shut up on your Twitter feed" and he responded with, "At least I know I'll have someone defending me when the hate mail comes in". Yeah, there are a few people who have had serious impact on my life and Professor Krauss is one of them. No way I wouldn't have the back of any of them...no matter what. Got my Star Trek book signed. And I got a little hug so if I kick off tomorrow, I'm good. (Except I wouldn't get to read his new book coming out next year, that's a problem...)

So, after I had dinner and got back to the hostel I was in a pretty good mood. Turns out that circumstances really like to balance that shit out. I quite like staying at hostels the majority of the time. Sometimes you meet really nice people who have cool stories about where they've been, why they're in the city or where they are going. Last night? Not one of those nights. It wasn't in the league of having a crazy lady who talks to herself all night (been there) but honestly, ENOUGH with the fucking plastic bags! What are you doing up there in the top bunk? Eating candy all night? Feel free to put that plastic bag over your head and stop bothering me. One of the other "roomies" came in around 1am and turned on the heater. Note: it's loud. Also, it works really well because by 3:30am when I woke up again it felt like it was 500 degrees in the room and that I could have a heart attack. It wasn't even cold last night! When it hits 0 then we can talk about turning on the heat. It's Canada. Suck it up buttercup and deal with the weather. Off that goes. By 5am, people started getting up one at a time and getting ready to leave. For over 2 hours. And the plastic bag rattling started again. Plus, I swear one girl brushed her teeth for like 20 minutes. By 6am I had given up on the prospect of sleep and by 7am I had reached my annoyance level so I packed up the last of my stuff and went for coffee. Lots of coffee.

At any rate, home now and likely not going anywhere for the most part until after the holidays. We'll see what winter brings us this year. His new book comes out in March and he's back in Toronto in June at Imagine 7 but I can't attend that due to the price of the tickets plus hotel. (That event is more than my entire week in New York for the World Science Festival costs!) Just out of my price range right now considering how slashed to the bone my hours are at work. We'll see what other events he has lined up for his book release as we get closer. And I think I'll end on that note. :)

I love getting up at 3am to get the 5am bus to the city. Aside from the getting up at 3 am part. I do like getting in at a decent time of the morning though. Checked my bags in at the hostel at around 7am, grabbed a much needed coffee then headed for my favourite breakfast spot...Sunset Grill. Leisurely meal, hopped on the streetcar for a morning of hiking around the trails in High Park with my camera. Stopped around noon by one of the ponds to refuel and read some Feynman. I picked up a copy of "The Meaning of It All" at The Strand when I was in NYC for the World Science Festival earlier this year. Very pleasant spot and got to snap pics of a family of Mallards. Spent another hour or so on trails then headed to do some errands and to check in at the hostel so that I could grab a disco nap before changing and heading out for dinner.

It's still really difficult being in Toronto since Saburah died last year. Part of me still expects her to text me to meet for coffee or lunch. She loved going to things like TIFF....strange to do them without her. Not sure that I will ever get used to it completely. It's really hard to adapt to flying solo after 15 years of concerts, movies and foodie events. Even strolling down Dundas brings back so many long conversations. But I digress.

The movie was slated for 9:30pm...I got there around 7:45pm and had to wait for the line to clear for the other TIFF movie. Chatted with some volunteers and lined up around 8pm. Seeing as there was a lot of time, I spent the time chatting with a couple more volunteers and a woman in line who was waiting for her daughter. We discussed the movie, I told them about the premise of it (since there really hadn't been a lot of talk about it, unless you actually go looking for it...because you're a tad OCD and run a webpage for someone). They weren't familiar with Lawrence Krauss so seeing that he's one of my favourite things to talk about I told them about Breakthrough Starshot and some of his other work, ASU Origins...and plugged the Wakelet page. That led us into talking about everything from Proxima to the anthropocene. That's me...geeking it up in the movie line. Luckily, I had a really interesting subject matter to expound upon! :)

Turned out that the whole cast was there, not just Professor Krauss. Even Werner Herzog...which explains why I only saw the good professor while he was onstage before the movie. He was hanging with a pretty cool crowd. The movie was amazing. Very stylized...almost like a dreamscape. Like most of his movies, it's a bit like I'd imagine it's like inside Herzog's mind. It's an eco-thriller about an impending ecological disaster and Lawrence was marvelous playing the evil genius. I was pleasantly surprised actually. There were quite a few moments of humour in the film and Lawrence got one of the first big laughs over a comment about the wheelchair. (I don't want to spoil the movie so I am not going to talk specifics.) Really holds his own in a movie with such incredible talent. His timing was impressive - especially when you consider the 16 day shooting schedule they did this on. Hopefully he won't throw us over for Hollywood after his taste of being a movie star.

And I have to put it out there...seeing him playing a bad guy and toting a gun...kinda hot. Just sayin'. (Hey, he's happily married so let me have my little nerd crush.) Veronica has an amazing section in the last half of the movie with the 2 boys. Absolutely stunning work from her on a breathtakingly barren landscape. But Prof. Krauss *owned* the last scene in the movie. It was completely and awesomely weird. Everything I could have hoped for.

Salt & Fire is a quirky, highly enjoyable movie. But you have to like lots of dialogue, lol. After it was over they did a Q&A. Prof. Krauss was asked about being in the movie and he very eloquently talked about the relationship between science and culture and how both can change the way you see the world. He went on to mention how he was honoured to participate in something as unique and special as this. Werner talked about the cast...when he got to Prof. Krauss he said that all he had to do was "turn him loose". Michael mentioned that the place that they shot the movie was the same place they stayed during the shoot and the bonding they did while they just played music and drank a lot of wine. But my favourite comment from him was when he talked about his intent for his movies....to put his arm around his audience and lead them to poetry. That says everything about this movie you could want.