Car Modern 2011

These stunning shots show the beautiful and eerie underwater world of a Swiss ice-filled Alpine lake.

Taken in Lake Sassolo, close to the southern border with Italy, these were taken by diving photographer Franco Banfi.
Although the high altitude region is known for its sunny weather, the lake was formed by the run-off of the Alps surrounding it.

The giant ice structures dwarf the tiny divers as they explore the nooks and crannies of the icebergs.

The pictures show the lake's massive ice formations, smoothed by the flow of the water into unusual formations.
In one shot there even seems to be a face peeking out of the ice to greet the divers.
The ice forms into comb like structures and tiny tunnels are made between the metre thick slabs, allowing the divers to squeeze through and capture these unseen views.
'The water in the lake is freezing, so the best time to go is summer,' said Franco who took the pictures in June of last year.
'But it's so different from a lot of other dives you could do around the world that it's well worth a visit.

The bikes poured into Nathan Phillips Square as part of Bike Month. Today was the Group Commute where commuters meet and ride together to City Hall. Participants got a free Bike Month t-shirt, a breakfast and some other promotional goodies like GO Transit lunch bags. Bike month runs from May 26th to June 21st.

Update July 12, 2010: For information on the Honda Indy Toronto special events including the Driver's Party check out my blog post here. You can also see my coverage of the 2010 race on my blog post here.

Let's get the party started - In about a month and a half the CNE will come alive with the sound, smell and action of the Honda Indy Toronto on Friday, July 16 to Sunday, July 18. The three days will be jam packed with cars, girls, beer and other activities so drop by their site and keep an eye out for the proposed schedule of events. We do know that the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be joining the IZOD Indycar Series and Firestone Indy Lights racing during the weekend. The Indy Racing League (IRL) race starts at 12:30pm on Sunday, July 18, 2010.

In 2009 the schedule had the gates opening at 8am and the days ending at 6pm Friday and Saturday and 8am to 5pm on the final day - Sunday.

Attendance at Indy races, like the Honda Indy Toronto, are a concern and they need to ramp up the marketing and advertising. It really is a good deal of entertainment for the buck so I do recommend coming out to the races. (UPDATE June 2: My friends at the Toronto Star have announced that Friday's admission will be on the Ontario Honda Dealers Association.)

Some of the events coming up ahead of the race include the following.

Annual Drivers’ Party.
Pit Crew Girl Search (Budweiser).

Media Pit Stop Challenge (Honda) - this was at Yonge-Dundas Square last year.
Autograph signing sessions (numerous sponsors).
Public celebration at Yonge and Dundas Square during race week.
Shoot For A Cure teams up with the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation for the second annual Honda Indy Toronto Walk Run ‘N Wheel-a-thon, to be held in downtown Toronto on Thursday, July 15, 2010 in support of spinal cure research.

I also noticed that David Letterman is one of the owners of the Graham Rahal car so maybe we will be lucky and see David in Toronto this year.

There are also a lot of sponsors on board with promotion plans such as.

Green Savoree Toronto, owners of the Honda Indy Toronto, Honda, Ontario Honda Dealers Association, Budweiser, Schick, Telus, Motorola, Dr Pepper, Mattel Canada, Pizza Pizza, Delta Chelsea Hotel, the Toronto Sun, the Ontario Government, Tourism Toronto, PHD, Grip and Torchia Communications. Honda, Budweiser and Dr Pepper are planning themed promotions.

The League has 11 more races in the season and Toronto is only 4 races away. The latest race was the May 30th Indianapolis 500 which was won by Dario Franchitti, winer of the 2009 Honda Toronto Indy (picture at top) as well as the 2009 Indycar Series Champion. The remaining schedule is as follows.

Saturday, June 12 Texas Motor Speedway, oval
Sunday, June 20 Iowa Speedway, oval
Sunday, July 4 Watkins Glen International, road course
Sunday, July 18 Streets of Toronto, street course
Sunday, July 25 Edmonton City Centre Airport, airport course
Sunday, August 8 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, road course
Sunday, August 22 Infineon Raceway, road course
Saturday, August 28 Chicagoland Speedway, oval
Labor Day Weekend Kentucky Speedway, oval
Saturday, September 18Twin Ring Motegi, oval
Saturday, October 2 Homestead-Miami Speedway, oval



The current standings show Will Power (above) in the lead followed by the rest of top five: Dario Franchitti,

Scott Dixon,

Helio Castroneves

and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Ryan was involved in an accident with Mike Conway during the Indy 500 and the pictures of Mike's car flipping into the air and running along the fence are amazing. IRL says "Mike Conway will miss at least three months of the IZOD IndyCar Series season after having surgery the evening of May 30 to repair fractures to his lower left leg suffered in the white flag lap crash in the Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day.

Indy Racing League Director of Medical Services Dr. Michael Olinger said Conway, of England, also has a soft tissue injury to his lower left leg and he is expected to have another surgical procedure later this week. Additionally, Conway has a compression fracture of one of his thoracic vertebrae and is being fitted for a back brace, which he will wear for three months." Here is a picture of Mike.



Canadians Alex Tagliani is 11th in the standings while Paul Tracy (below) has no points at this time. It was announced that Paul will race in both the Honda Indy Toronto and the Edmonton Indy, sponsored by Honda and supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation.



Danica Patrick sits at 12th place and has been taking a public beating after discussing her car and her dislike of street courses - I still can't wait to see her race. She started out in the 23rd position yesterday and ended up finishing the race in 6th place.

The success of Doors Open is measured in the number of visitors and attractions that take part in the May weekend event across Toronto. This year marks the 11th Doors Open and I know that standing in line waiting to get into some of the 140 plus buildings means that Torontonians are really enjoying this chance to see places that they normally wouldn't be allowed into or otherwise have to pay to get into.

Besides Toronto City Hall I also went to the National Ballet School. Not only do the students take ballet training they also go to school and live on site. Besides the full time ballet students there are about a 1000 people a year that take ballet classes throughout the year. The school was difficult to take pictures of because the students have to practice on Saturdays and you couldn't take photos showing students - so pretty much a washout for a photographer like me.



So onwards to Historic Fort York with some colourful uniforms as soldiers march and practice with their muskets.




Later I make it to the CNE and the Horse Palace. I watched an expert cowboy show some amazing skills that were originally used to herd cattle in Portugal. I don't think the Toronto Police Mounted Unit put on a show but they did have one of their horses out for introductions to the public.

Went to KL yesterday and had lunch at Carl's Jr @ One Utama this afternoon

My favourite characters from the Reitmans television commercials, where Haute Couture scores 0 and Reitmans scores 1, were in the Eaton Centre on Saturday, May 29 mixing with fans and taking funny pictures.

The commercials are funny because of the Haute Couture excess and the commentary and scoring by Armand and Albert. Here is a picture of me with the duo taken by Joe Fresh.

Update: The 2011 Season Opener saw the Gore-Gore Rollergirls beat the Death Track Dolls - see the pictures here.
Update: See my pictures from the 2010 Championship game held November 13, 2010.
Update: See my pictures of the action at the semi-final game #2 at my blog post here.

The Smoke City Betties battled it out with the Gore-Gore Roller Girls in the Hangar at Downsview Park during the 2010 season opener. Lady Gag-Ya and Memphis Kitty mix it up, above. The score was a little lopsided with Gore-Gore at 248 and the Betties at 58. The Betties were smoked. The bout was announced by Crankpants and I find that it is very hard to understand what the heck the guy is saying most of the time.



The Smoke City girls had black outfits and blue shorts while the Gore-Gore girls were in leopard print outfits. The girls continued to look hot like co-captain Dust Bunny, above. The many refs added their own flavour to the game - they are called the zebra mafia and I like Penny Whistler and Nicki Nine Lives. The Gore-Gore girls make their introductions and one of my favourite players Bambi #33 holds up a banner.



The Toronto Roller Derby (TORD) - real women, real hits, real heart, is doing gangbusters and the crowd was huge for the May 29th match. Games for 2010 are May 29, June 12, July 2 & 10, Aug 21 & 28, September 11 and October 2 & 23 with the Championship on November 13. The teams in TORD are the Smoke City Betties, Chicks Ahoy, The Gore-Gore Rollergirls, The Death Track Dolls and CN Power. Land Shark from CN Power was supporting the league while watching the action from a comfy seat on the sidelines.



One of the powerhouses of the game was Gore-Gore co-captain Brim Stone #21:8 who blocks and jams like a woman possessed. I especially appreciated her garter belt.






When the game ends the teams circle the arena slapping hands then they meet their fans for autographs and photos. Here is me with Bambi in a photo taken by Joe Fresh - otherwise known as "Your Average Joe" - check out his blog as he has plenty of photos from the night.



For coverage of the Quad City Championship event check out my blog post here. You can also see my photos from the June 12 game between Death Track Dolls and Chicks Ahoy on this blog post.

Skull Man's Box Wars stomped out during the half time intermission and their war had the cardboard flying until only one monster was left.

I went to a couple of places in City Hall that I have never been to before - up on the Podium Green Roof terrace, into the Mayor's office, the Council Chambers and to the top of the building on the observation deck, during the 2010 Toronto Doors Open event.



The green roof terrace opens space that was previously closed to the public right beside the council chambers. Green stuff came alive with two alien green things wandering the terrace - they might have been undercover security in advance of the G20.



Mayor David Miller joined others for the official opening of the green roof that looks down on Nathan Phillips Square. He has a nice office in City Hall with a decorating motif in his office suite.




There were also a few kids dressed on stilts and in costumes like a butterfly and a swan.



On top of City Hall the observation deck is on the 27th floor and provides a nice view of downtown Toronto. Also Below are two of the friendly Doors Open volunteers helping to keep things running smoothly during the event.