In Toronto, the opening of The Ex marks the end of summer. For those of you that don’t live here, it’s basically a carnival. A state fair. Something like that. And someone is usually injured or killed on one of the rides.
Like a good citizen, I attend each year and each year I do the same thing: I don’t go on any rides and I don’t gamble for stuffed animals on The Midway but I take in a dog show, eat a corndog and buy some really strange shit from The International Pavilion.
This year was no exception.
I purchased a dead bat because no one can be sure when that will come in handy, you can only be sure that it will; a Russian doll set of Putin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev, Brezhnev, and Khrushchev; a dead insect key chain; a KGB cigarette holder with a built-in lighter; and a racist toy.
I was surprised at the amount of racist toys at this year’s ex. The international pavilion is always a kingdom of jank where every nation gathers to sell its garbage. (Canada is represented by a fake tattoo shop. Go team go!) And you often find cute little jokes in the very layout — like a Russian booth selling old Soviet war equipment right next to a Polish booth selling furniture. It is one chaos united by kitsch.
And some things always spread through the whole affair like little gems germs. No matter the country, at booth after booth, you’ll find the same knick-knacks. This year, it’s racially charged dolls. Or salt and pepper shakers that have white and black people hugging. Bought some of those too.
1 comment
VJESCI
August 21, 2008 at 10:02 pm (UTC -5)
.your racist toy seems a bit akin to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface