Toronto is Wonderfully Weird

[00:00:00] Michael Maldonado: Foreign. [00:00:08] Malorie Mackey: Welcome back to Weird World Adventures, the podcast. I'm your host, Mallory. [00:00:12] Michael Maldonado: And I'm your host, Michael. [00:00:14] Malorie Mackey: And we're here to show you just how weird this world of ours really is. And today we are in the car. So if there, if we sound a little bit funny, there's a little hum in the background. That's why. But we are driving back from Buffalo, New York, York. We have a few here in a series we're doing. [00:00:30] Michael Maldonado: We. [00:00:30] Malorie Mackey: I just did a podcast on saicon, which we told you guys all about. And then after Saikon ended, I spent the day in Toronto because apparently Toronto's less than a two hour drive from Buffalo. And I have to say, I don't know, a lot of people were giving me info about getting to Toronto and how painful it was. And if you research it, there's a lot of stuff on the border and you know, like getting through and how painful it is. But I'm going to be honest, I had a very nice, smooth, easy experience. Yes, it was pretty nice. I got through within, within like five minutes. Going in Toronto was weirdly like this easy. It's an easy city. I'll say. Like it was a big city. There was definitely places you go through where there's just giant buildings everywhere. There's a lot of like the suburban, suburban metro like kind of exterior surrounding it. A lot of what I did, they said was kind of like downtown, but I think it's more like the, the old downtown. So it was from further out, wasn't in like the heart of all the crazy buildings. And it was, it was surprisingly very stress free. I got in very easily, the driving was fine. And then parking, everyone warned me about parking in Toronto. It's a very green city. There's not that much parking. You should be worried about it. But to be honest, there's an app, like a community app that you just download and then you, you put in like the zone that you're parking in, which is clearly displayed on the sign. It gives you the whatever parking limitations and you just put it in and that's it. [00:02:16] Michael Maldonado: Okay. It's easy. [00:02:18] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, it's very easy. So it was very easy parking and it has so much weird stuff. I was disappointed that like when I went to put in weird stuff in Buffalo, there, there wasn't that much weird stuff. I feel like in my mind Buffalo's a big city. At least it didn't actually seem that big. It looked kind of Richmond size, but it, in my mind it's a big city and I was surprised it didn't have a lot of stuff. And then, you know, we get to Toronto, and it's like, everything is weird, and I love it. [00:02:47] Michael Maldonado: Lots weird stuff. [00:02:49] Malorie Mackey: And you doing okay over there? [00:02:52] Michael Maldonado: Good. [00:02:53] Malorie Mackey: Okay. [00:02:53] Michael Maldonado: Sleepy. [00:02:54] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. I went to this bookstore called the Monkey's Paw, which. Yes, it was named after the monkey. Monkey's Paw, the famous tale, the famous tail. And the guy even said he kind of. He kind of, like, wanted to do it for a play of, like, be careful what you wish for. So, like, it was intentionally named the Monkey's Paw, which I appreciate. And it's all old, weird books that are no longer in print, or at least that are at least from the last century, he said. But many are much, much older than that, and they're either macabre or obscure. He had a list of things. They're funny. A lot of them are like a cultural handprint. Right. Or cultural fingerprint that show how things used to be. He likes that. And we kind of talked about that. You know, my. My thing that. I always say that people get offended in Dracula because, you know, Van Helsing says nina has a man's brain and a woman's heart. To say she's intelligent and compassionate, it's like a lot of slices of that. Like, things that were. That are a little bit, like, obscene. Like, I can't believe someone would say that. But it's like a photo paused in time. He has a lot of that stuff. I bought an etiquette, a cultural etiquette book from, like, the early 1900s that I can't wait to read, to be honest. [00:04:16] Michael Maldonado: We're gonna live like that. [00:04:17] Malorie Mackey: Oh, are we? Follow it to a T. I really enjoy those old, like, housewife guidebooks that are aggressively offensive now because they're just so audacious, you know, I can't believe that this was how things were. But I also think that they're very healthy reminder of how far we've come, you know, as a society. Wow. Wow. Gonna be canceled. [00:04:41] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:04:43] Malorie Mackey: So that was interesting, and that was very cool. And that was a cute little, like, again, like, kind of metro area. It wasn't anything crazy as far as, like, there was parking. I found street parking, like, residential street parking. It was great. And then I went to Casa Loma, and Casa Loma, it was a beautiful castle out that way. I. It was weird because I didn't. I guess I didn't know what I was getting into. I knew it was a castle. I knew it was pretty. I knew it had some weird history, but we had such A spectacular interview from there, because it was. I mean, it's what you would expect out of a European castle in Canada. They said it was Canada's only castle. So anything filming in Canada that needs a castle pretty much always fills there. So it's been in so many movies, so many TV shows. They talked about their restaurant that's there now, which was really pretty. It's like part weird smoking lounge, but, like, in a castle. Like, it's beautiful. That was Professor X's office. [00:05:55] Michael Maldonado: Oh, my guy. [00:05:56] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. And all the X Men movies. [00:05:59] Michael Maldonado: That was the Xavier School gifted. Yeah. [00:06:03] Malorie Mackey: His office was like. Was like the restaurant. They shared me. [00:06:07] Michael Maldonado: They didn't accept it. I don't know why. [00:06:08] Malorie Mackey: That's lame. [00:06:09] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:06:11] Malorie Mackey: And then we. From there, they had secret passages underneath. Like, the guy built tunnels under his castle to get across the street. It was a guy that really wanted to be an aristocrat, and he had money, and there was no aristocracy in Canada. So he was like, I'm gonna make myself. He's gonna be that guy. So he was very eccentric and made just. He made, like, tunnels under the ground that, like, went through the area to get him over to his carriage house so he didn't have to, like, cross the street, see the plebes. And the. The tunnels were actually used. She said I. During World War I, like, as part of, like, a military thing. Like, it, like, the cat Castle was taken over by, you know, the government at some point, and they owned it. And, like, he lost his money near the end of his life, and they. The. The state took his. Took his stuff. Right. It sounds like he was. He was working in. I want to say, hydroelectrics. [00:07:23] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:07:23] Malorie Mackey: That's how he made his money. And he. It basically became a public utility. And when it became a public utility, he stopped making money on it. [00:07:32] Michael Maldonado: Sure. [00:07:33] Malorie Mackey: And lost all his money. Like, he couldn't. He couldn't make enough money to keep up, like, his expenses. [00:07:37] Michael Maldonado: Castle. [00:07:38] Malorie Mackey: Yeah. So he lost everything and the state took it. And they. They, during World War I, used the underground tunnels. They put up signs that said, like, under construction and. And used it as, like, a secret covert operation, which was really cool. And there's hidden rooms down there, like, in the wall that open up when you put in a code. And that's where they would make. They made, like, the uniforms of the opposing forces to have spies. Like, so it was this whole spy operation. They said that one of the guys that inspired it, that worked on it, actually inspired James Bond. And the end of his code name was 0.07. So he was like the James Bond inspiration. He was the guy. So he, he worked out of there. So it had a really interesting history I did not expect, which I was very pleasantly surprised about. It was pretty great and I enjoyed that. And then we went over to Curiosa. [00:08:51] Michael Maldonado: Curiosa. [00:08:52] Malorie Mackey: Curiosa. And what I, what I liked about Curiosa is it's. It's a magic store in like a gimmicky, fun play magic store that you would think of where not like a hardcore like dark arts, like, you know, you know, it has taxidermied animals and it's very much instead just almost like Harry Potter. [00:09:15] Michael Maldonado: Did you get a wand? [00:09:16] Malorie Mackey: They had the wands there. I didn't get a wand, but they did have wands. It's set up to be very playful in a way that's like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings. And they said they wanted it to be accessible to children. They wanted it to be like that Harry Potter store you wish you could walk into when you were a kid and like feel the magic. So they have like rooms that move by themselves at the top and like little fairy crates that are like, you know, like moving back and forth. And it reminds me of something you would see like at the Wizarding World. [00:09:49] Michael Maldonado: Okay. Which I still haven't seen. [00:09:52] Malorie Mackey: Oh, we had to go. It's amazing. I really love the Wizarding World. [00:09:55] Michael Maldonado: I heard it's great. [00:09:56] Malorie Mackey: The, the Hogwarts ride. The castle ride. [00:09:59] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:10:00] Malorie Mackey: Is the best. I mean, you waiting in line is just as entertaining as the ride. [00:10:07] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:10:07] Malorie Mackey: Because you're going through the castle. [00:10:09] Michael Maldonado: Right. [00:10:09] Malorie Mackey: And getting to experience the different rooms. That part to me was just as enjoyable as the ride itself, which is also great. Highly recommend it. But yeah, it was very, it was very cool. They were very into the, the fun, you know, fantasy side of like the magic stuff. Stuff. And the woman that, that I met, that worked there, Bronte, was wonderful. And she, she kind of said like, you know, she, she talks to kids like it's real and you know, like, oh, that's. She. We were talking a little bit about science stuff and she's like, I call science Muggle magic, like, you know, to kids and, and just full, full immersion into like, I wish we had this when we were kids. It's magical. They want like families to come in, have a good time and, and it was very cool. It was very cool. And then after that I was starving because at this point I think it was close to 4 o' clock and I hadn't eaten anything at All. And Tristan was not happy about that. Got lots of angry baby kicks going on down there. And so I went to the poop cafe. [00:11:18] Michael Maldonado: Oh, good. [00:11:20] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, the poop Cafe. It was really weird, you know, I was surprised, to be honest, how empty it is. Like, for how gimmicky it is, I was surprised. It was pretty dead inside. I'm like, how come more people do. Don't be like, poop cafe. [00:11:36] Michael Maldonado: I would eat there every day. [00:11:38] Malorie Mackey: Exactly. And it's funny because all of it's very, like, Japanese. Right. It has, like the Chibi characters and it has like these colorful, like, cherry blossomy trees kind of throughout it. [00:11:56] Michael Maldonado: And [00:11:58] Malorie Mackey: the tables, like, down the alley in the middle, all of the chairs, there are toilets. [00:12:04] Michael Maldonado: Oh, nice. [00:12:05] Malorie Mackey: So you get to sit on a toilet. [00:12:06] Michael Maldonado: Are they usable? [00:12:08] Malorie Mackey: Unfortunately not. [00:12:09] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:12:09] Malorie Mackey: You know, I will say it was a great experience, but their actual toilet wasn't that great. All things considered. I'm like, you know, I would love a really cool bath. Expect a cool bathroom in this situation. But now it's really pretty. A lame bathroom in a cool space. But yes, there was the. All the seats were toilets. And then when you. They also had, like, cubby, like a booth in the wall that were kind of like cubbies. And. And those had, like, painted toilets behind you. And then like in like a bathroom mural. [00:12:40] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:12:41] Malorie Mackey: Against the. Against the wall. Everything. Everything was bathroom related. And then I just loved that if you ordered a hot, like, coffee drink, they served it to you in a little mini toilet. [00:12:56] Michael Maldonado: Nice. [00:12:56] Malorie Mackey: So you could drink out of your little toilet. And I think it's, like, intentionally made to be, like, comically gross. But they put beautiful art. Like, they had a tree. Like, I got a matcha latte, which is, like, very green. And then they put, like, a tree in there. So it's like, really pretty. And then it turns like a brown green after a while. And you're like, this is meant to be gross. Right? I'm drinking this. My brown green latte out of this toilet. And it was very fun and awesome. And then they serve these, like, ice cream sushi rolls in a giant, like, toilet plate. [00:13:34] Michael Maldonado: In a pooper. [00:13:35] Malorie Mackey: In a pooper. And also the ice cream sushi rolls are just a great choice. It was delicious. I had some Oreo ice cream, like, flattened and rolled in these sushi rolls. It was pretty good. [00:13:49] Michael Maldonado: But some weird. Some weird. [00:13:51] Malorie Mackey: Valerie, I am. And then just the salad was normal. They do actually just have regular food there too. I was so hungry, I got a. This shrimp salad and it had, like, that Sesame dressing that only like, I don't know. Only Japanese places do like exceptionally well. Where I was like. And. And the crunch on top, you know, like the crunchy on a crunch roll. It was like the crunch on my salad with. With some sesame. And it was. It was delicious. I'm like, this is great. So that was also very exciting. [00:14:24] Michael Maldonado: Very exciting. [00:14:25] Malorie Mackey: But yes, the poop cafe. If you're ever in cafe. If you're ever in Toronto, Poop cafe. That was lovely. And. And then we continued on and I had this crazy awesome interview at the Cineforum with this old man who is really heavily influenced by film and then kind of used to do some screenings of films in his. In his house. Like he turned his house into a theater screening situation. Situation downstairs and has all this weird like monster masks and horror memorabilia. Curly kind of talked about how like he. He's like, he seems very motivational speakery. Like he. He wound up working with like wayward kids a lot and like kind of inspired people to get out and live their own lives. Has just some really interesting stories. It was a very strange space. It was very casual. He said he hasn't been doing a lot of talks recently because he's recovering for his health. But it was an interesting guy. [00:15:31] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. So it was all in his house. [00:15:33] Malorie Mackey: It was in his house. Like it's in the city. It's like one of those like Brooklyn Y style. Like you can walk up into the old like house kind of situations in just like the heart of the city. And when you walk in the first two rooms, he kind of has over to the right or. I mean, it looks. It's like. It's like very well set up or have just been turned into like a movie theater. So it's right there when you come in. And that was. It was really interesting. It was very bizarre. Perfect for weird world. And from there I saw the graffiti alley, which was very fun. Like they're painting that lighter right there. The graffiti alley was a lot of fun and just, I mean, colorful and bizarre. And then there was the half house. There's like a house. It's just cut in half. [00:16:33] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:16:34] Malorie Mackey: In the middle of the city. It's like half of a house. [00:16:37] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:16:38] Malorie Mackey: It's like a skinny, skinny house. [00:16:39] Michael Maldonado: But. [00:16:40] Malorie Mackey: But it just goes up. Like, you know how a house, a stereotypical house, like if you thinking of a like traditional German house, how it has those like steep roofs and it just goes up but doesn't come back down on the other side. Just sliced in half. [00:16:53] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:16:53] Malorie Mackey: Right where it would come down and you're like, well, that's just half a house. [00:16:57] Michael Maldonado: What's on the other half? [00:16:58] Malorie Mackey: Nothing. [00:16:59] Michael Maldonado: Nothing. [00:16:59] Malorie Mackey: There's an alleyway. It's been cleared out. [00:17:01] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:17:02] Malorie Mackey: So there's just nothing there. It's an awkward half of a house. Yeah. It's pretty weird. [00:17:08] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:17:09] Malorie Mackey: And then I ended at Stormcrow Manor, which I was really excited about. I didn't fully know what to expect. They don't. I feel like when I looked it up, it, like, didn't do a service on how nerdy and great it was. It just kind of comes off like, oh, a dark cafe. Or, you know, like, nerdy cafe with, like, you know, interactive rooms. It doesn't. It doesn't explain that. Like, no. [00:17:39] Michael Maldonado: They. [00:17:39] Malorie Mackey: They go into every nerdom, but they really lean into D and D. Okay. Which I love. I wish I would have known that. Yeah. Would have been great, too. But I'm. I'm glad I went because the, like, the main overall thing is, like, you know, just nerdom and D and D. But then they have a room. So downstairs there was, like, a beholder. Like. Like, just like a statue like. Like coming in on. On, like, the right hand side when you're looking in, and all this weird, like, D D stuff. And then upstairs, there was, like, a fallout area that was very, like, fallouty. That's where I. I stayed. It was. It was. It was all just kind of like. Like cyber steampunky. [00:18:21] Michael Maldonado: Okay. [00:18:21] Malorie Mackey: But my table was fallout because I had the Nuka Cola poster. [00:18:25] Michael Maldonado: Nice. [00:18:26] Malorie Mackey: Had the Nuka Cola poster. [00:18:27] Michael Maldonado: Did you have a Nuka Cola? [00:18:29] Malorie Mackey: I didn't. You know, they did had alcohol in it. I couldn't have. But they did have Nuka Colas. And next time. [00:18:34] Michael Maldonado: Next time. [00:18:35] Malorie Mackey: Next time, Toronto. And they had my girl Buffy, a picture of Buffy going up the stairs. They had, like, a Slayer sandwich. Like, they. They leaned into everything. Their Han Solo is there, like, stuck in the thing with, like, a little Ewok. Like, the whole. They. They had. They had Star wars stuff. They had Buffy nods. They had the whole fallouty cyberpunk area. And then the cool thing is, this is where I'm like, man, you guys need to, like. You need to put this everywhere. This is awesome. They have, like, if you're feeling lucky situation. Or you can order a piece of pizza or a burger and then roll your toppings. [00:19:18] Michael Maldonado: Oh, I got, like, a D20. [00:19:20] Malorie Mackey: And they have a D20. And they give it to you. And, like. And then it says, like, if the odds are not in your favor. You can change it. Like, but. But like you can roll your toppings for your burger. [00:19:29] Michael Maldonado: Did you roll? [00:19:30] Malorie Mackey: I didn't. That would have been really cool though. I wanted to. [00:19:34] Michael Maldonado: Huh. [00:19:36] Malorie Mackey: There's also a. I know I'm not like adventurous with toppings. Like, I'll do it for like, you know, like the gimmick next time, but it was cool. And then they have like, apparently they have like roll your fate shots where you can order shots and you don't know, like you roll to see what you're gonna get a shot of. [00:19:54] Michael Maldonado: Interesting. [00:19:56] Malorie Mackey: So they have like several things on the menu that are like D20, roll your fate, which I think is really cool. [00:20:03] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, I like that. [00:20:04] Malorie Mackey: And like a whole experience. Like they give you, I guess like a burger character sheet and then you can roll your toppings. I mean, very cool. Like whoever thought of that as a genius? I thought that was great. And then, and then they had like a huge non alcoholic menu, which I really appreciated. [00:20:25] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:20:27] Malorie Mackey: So for like the non alcoholic menu I was able to get, I got this like, like blood orange kind of like it was like a really sweet, good like fruity mango, blood orangey kind of like concoction. They served it in a glass that looked potiony and it was bubbling. Whatever they did, like, it was bubbling when they served it. So I got like a potion and it was bubbling. And they also had like the light up ice in there. Because it was lit up. [00:20:54] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:20:54] Malorie Mackey: So it was glowing and bubbling. It was very neat. I'm like, this is. [00:20:58] Michael Maldonado: This is a love potion. [00:20:59] Malorie Mackey: No, no, it was not. And then the other one, it was like an elven non alcoholic beer. [00:21:12] Michael Maldonado: Elven non alcoholic beer. Okay. [00:21:14] Malorie Mackey: And it had like like elves on it and like three sisters and like an elf incantation. It was very cool. I'm like, this is really awesome. [00:21:21] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:21:22] Malorie Mackey: So highly recommend. Stormcrow Manor. It really like you move through different chaotic rooms of like total nerdom of all different kinds of. And then just the being able to like roll to roll for surprise burger toppings to be able to roll for the surprise pizza toppings to roll for surprise shots. I mean that stuff is just really cool, you know, I. And. And then at the very end when I got the check, they gave it to. They give you the check and a mimic. [00:21:54] Michael Maldonado: That's fun. [00:21:56] Malorie Mackey: It was a mimic with a little magic card in there. [00:21:59] Michael Maldonado: Oh yeah. You do get a magic card. [00:22:00] Malorie Mackey: I got a magic card and a mimic. Very cool. The whole, the whole thing was. Well, maybe not cool, but. But nerd. Cool, nerd cool. Very different and unlike anything I've seen before. So Toronto is like really leaning into the weird stuff. Right? Like, we gotta have the nerd celebration, the poop celebration, the, the, you know, magic celebration. The, like, it was, no one shied away from, like, like wonderfully weird. [00:22:28] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:22:29] Malorie Mackey: Everyone leaned into it. So I really loved Toronto for that. Yeah, it felt like a great nerdy place and I was able to do it on a day. [00:22:39] Michael Maldonado: Yeah, it's great. [00:22:41] Malorie Mackey: So that was really exciting. And then, you know, we, we found a couple really cool weird places in Buffalo, but it just didn't have that same. It was very like, well, this is just an old city. You know, there was, there wasn't like the weird, like we're embracing bizarre. [00:22:55] Michael Maldonado: Yeah. [00:22:55] Malorie Mackey: Awesomeness in Buffalo. So we still did some stuff in Buffalo. We'll talk about that next time. But it wasn't quite as magical as Toronto. I give Toronto lots of props and you kind of just sat here and listened to me talk the whole time. I know, it's good. Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Have anything to contribute today, Michael? [00:23:13] Michael Maldonado: No, I'm just tired. [00:23:14] Malorie Mackey: Yeah, I can tell. [00:23:15] Michael Maldonado: It's been a long week. [00:23:17] Malorie Mackey: I know. I get to drive, he gets to sleep. So wake him up to do some podcasts. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in today. The weird Toronto stuff will eventually be on an episode of season three of Weird World Adventures, which we're hoping to have out next year, which is surprising and setting awesome and might might happen. So that'll be great. And we'll race before the baby. Yeah, we're thinking we can actually film it all before the baby, which would be just magical and then we can edit and get it all out there once we have the baby. So I think we have a good plan in place. So you guys might actually get some more weird world at a nice convenient time. So like not having to wait years and years, you might just wait a year between all the seasons. Somehow it's been working out. So we're hopeful and happy to bring that to you. And before then, we'll have write ups with like little sneak peeks on mallorysadventures.com so make sure you check out mallorysadventures.com thank you guys for tuning in today. I'm your host, Mallory. [00:24:27] Michael Maldonado: And I'm your host, Michael. Little to contribute to this one, but sounds fun. [00:24:33] Malorie Mackey: And until next time, everybody stay weird.