Bring on the Bunker rock
Upon second glance, I noticed last week's Resolutions blog left off the ubiquitous one that appears on almost everyone's list of things to try but inevitably fail at over the coming months: to exercise more. Thankfully, this is made somewhat easier for me because I have access to a gym. If only I had access to motivation, so I would use said gym.
It's amazing I can even find the gym, considering it's in the basement of the basement of the Wellington Building, across the street from the Hill. Parliament, the rest of Ottawa in fact, could be blown off the map and folks in the gym would not likely notice a thing, that's how much it resembles a bunker. A bunker with bad talk radio, which is to suggest that good talk radio exists, a notion I think highly unlikely.
All this talk of bunkers has me momentarily wondering about the Diefenbunker, "Canada's Cold War Museum," located just outside of Ottawa. I haven't been to the museum yet, but who can deny its attraction with a description like this:
"A huge four-storey bunker, buried deep under a hillside and meant to house crucial elements of Canadian government in a nuclear war ... built in secrecy during the height of the Cold War between 1959 and 1961, and meant to house the top officials of the government and military during the risk of nuclear attack. Tours of this incredibly unique facility take visitors through a time warp to 1960s era government rooms, living quarters, cryptographic areas. Visitors enjoy a guided tour of the entire facility ... Some of the focal points include the Prime Minister’s suite, the War Cabinet Room, the CBC radio studio, the Bank of Canada vault, and the Emergency Government Situation Centre."
I'll have to add it to the "To Do" list. In the meantime, I did visit the Canadian Science and Technology Museum on the weekend to check out the "Autopsy of a Murder" exhibit. No doubt inspired by the popularity of TV franchises Law & Order and CSI, the exhibit offers visitors a hands-on chance to solve the murder of Sarah Melville, a ficticious student.
Before entering the exhibit, visitors watch a short, introductory film which re-enacts the crime and introduces the three main suspects. Once inside, the crime scene is the first stop. It appears exactly as it did on the night of Melville's murder, and from there, the investigation is the hands of the visitor. Gathering clues from a number of different laboratories - ballistics, genetics, voice analysis, fibre analysis, and chemistry-toxicology - as well as viewing statements by all three suspects, visitors slowly piece together what they think happened on that fateful night.
It's a fascinating way to spend a rainy (or snowy, if it ever comes to that) afternoon, so long as you're prepared to be surrounded by kids. And if you do go, make sure you play around with FACES, the software that allows visitors to create composite sketches of criminals. My blogging would decrease heavily if I had the program on my computer because it's so fun. You gotta try it!
And while we're on the topic of "You Gotta Try It!," it's almost impossible this Saturday's show at Zaphod's will suck. Ottawa's own My Dad Vs. Yours and As the Poets Affirm are opening for Toronto's Rock Plaza Central, currently one of our favourite bands here at the Capital Letters. It will only cost you $6, so get out of your bunkers and join us at the show.
It's amazing I can even find the gym, considering it's in the basement of the basement of the Wellington Building, across the street from the Hill. Parliament, the rest of Ottawa in fact, could be blown off the map and folks in the gym would not likely notice a thing, that's how much it resembles a bunker. A bunker with bad talk radio, which is to suggest that good talk radio exists, a notion I think highly unlikely.
All this talk of bunkers has me momentarily wondering about the Diefenbunker, "Canada's Cold War Museum," located just outside of Ottawa. I haven't been to the museum yet, but who can deny its attraction with a description like this:
"A huge four-storey bunker, buried deep under a hillside and meant to house crucial elements of Canadian government in a nuclear war ... built in secrecy during the height of the Cold War between 1959 and 1961, and meant to house the top officials of the government and military during the risk of nuclear attack. Tours of this incredibly unique facility take visitors through a time warp to 1960s era government rooms, living quarters, cryptographic areas. Visitors enjoy a guided tour of the entire facility ... Some of the focal points include the Prime Minister’s suite, the War Cabinet Room, the CBC radio studio, the Bank of Canada vault, and the Emergency Government Situation Centre."
I'll have to add it to the "To Do" list. In the meantime, I did visit the Canadian Science and Technology Museum on the weekend to check out the "Autopsy of a Murder" exhibit. No doubt inspired by the popularity of TV franchises Law & Order and CSI, the exhibit offers visitors a hands-on chance to solve the murder of Sarah Melville, a ficticious student.
Before entering the exhibit, visitors watch a short, introductory film which re-enacts the crime and introduces the three main suspects. Once inside, the crime scene is the first stop. It appears exactly as it did on the night of Melville's murder, and from there, the investigation is the hands of the visitor. Gathering clues from a number of different laboratories - ballistics, genetics, voice analysis, fibre analysis, and chemistry-toxicology - as well as viewing statements by all three suspects, visitors slowly piece together what they think happened on that fateful night.
It's a fascinating way to spend a rainy (or snowy, if it ever comes to that) afternoon, so long as you're prepared to be surrounded by kids. And if you do go, make sure you play around with FACES, the software that allows visitors to create composite sketches of criminals. My blogging would decrease heavily if I had the program on my computer because it's so fun. You gotta try it!
And while we're on the topic of "You Gotta Try It!," it's almost impossible this Saturday's show at Zaphod's will suck. Ottawa's own My Dad Vs. Yours and As the Poets Affirm are opening for Toronto's Rock Plaza Central, currently one of our favourite bands here at the Capital Letters. It will only cost you $6, so get out of your bunkers and join us at the show.
posted by Capital Letters at 9:59 PM
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