I do try not to have too many regrets, though it is surely impossible to go through life without having any. I am fortunate that I do have enough time and usually enough funds to see all the theatre that interests me in Toronto (though I did skip Burn This as the tickets just seemed too high to me). That might not be the case if I was still in Chicago (not having enough time) or New York (where even the off-Broadway ticket prices have become ridiculous). Concerts are a bit of a different story, as they have gone up (in my view at least) much beyond the rate of inflation and the scalperbots have gotten so good that it may be very difficult to actually get tickets at all, and then you have to decide about buying them secondhand (in addition to costing more the odds are reasonably high that you'll get scammed). So I do a lot more picking and choosing.
Anyway, all through high school I didn't live anywhere near a major metro area and didn't see any rock concerts at all. I was probably taken to a few classical and jazz concerts, but nothing that really sticks out in memory. (I do remember one boy in band managed to convince his older cousin or someone to take him to a U2 concert,* but that was quite the exception.) In university, I was close enough to Detroit (and it hadn't quite fallen on hard times to the degree it has today), so for major acts, we would go, though I still don't think I went to more than 6 or so concerts in Detroit (David Bowie, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby, 10,000 Maniacs and maybe one or two more). I liked music, but I just wasn't that much of a concert-goer. Maybe it would have been different had I grown up in a big city where all the big acts were passing through.
I won't go too much into all the concerts I didn't go to,** but just focus on a few where I had considered, but for one reason or another, decided not to, and then (too late!) had second thoughts.
Probably #1 is when Paul Simon played a small venue on Belmont, not that far from where I lived in Chicago. Definitely still kicking myself about that one.
Right around that time, I skipped the chance to see Toad the Wet Sprocket playing in the Lincoln Park Zoo. I think for both of these, I mostly didn't go because I was trying to adjust to having two small children and just wasn't sleeping all that well.
I think there was a Bauhaus reunion tour that passed through Chicago, and maybe I should have gone. I heard it was actually pretty good.
On a recent visit to Chicago, I could have see Jackson Browne playing an event. He was only backed by one slide guitar player, and I guess I just thought he would sound better with a full band. While I probably still should have gone, this won't be something I take to my grave regretting...
Similarly, I've been pretty interested in trying to catch Bruce Cockburn, but the last few times he's come through Toronto, it's been a solo show. I'd really prefer to see him playing with a band.
I wasn't a huge, huge Leonard Cohen fan, but I still should have tried to catch his final tour. Ah well.
Also, Prince kept hinting he was going to have a secret show in Toronto, and then he actually did a show (I believe he played piano only) and then less than a month later he passed away. For sure, that's one I would have liked to have attended.
More recently, my wife asked if I wanted to see Hall & Oates in Toronto. We saw them in Chicago, and they were quite good, but I wasn't sure I really needed to go again. What I didn't realize was that they were sharing the bill with Tears for Fears. Had I clued into that, I'm sure we would have gone.
I didn't like either of the venues that Collective Soul chose when they came to Toronto (and they came twice in 2016!). They aren't coming in 2017, but they have a new album coming out and perhaps they will come back in 2018 (and I'll make more of an effort the next time around).
I'm sure there are dozens if not hundreds of concerts that I would have liked to see, but these are the ones that kind of stuck with me. That's probably not so bad (not so many regrets) in the grand scheme of things.
* I still haven't found any U2 tickets that were any good on any of
their later tours, so I may never end up seeing them. That's
unfortunate.
** I don't really want to add jazz to the mix, though I was supposed to see David Fathead Newman in Chicago (taking my father-in-law) but he got sick and actually died just a few weeks after the cancelled concert. (And I probably should have gone to seen Elvin Jones at the Chicago Jazz Fest when it was pretty clear it was one of his last tours.) In terms of pure regrets, looking at the walls of the Jazz Showcase and just trying to imagine how amazing it would have been living in Chicago in the 1960s-80s (as an adult) makes me wish I had been a generation older. Life would have been a lot easier in a lot of ways (assuming I avoided the draft...), though on the whole I didn't mind growing up in the 80s.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
College productions 2017-18
I realized that we have gone a few weeks into the fall semester, and I haven't heard much about the various UT drama clubs. I am aware of what is going on at Hart House, though that doesn't precisely count as Hart House has a lot of student actors in their productions, but isn't truly a student company. That said, I am starting to lean towards going to Hedwig and the Angry Inch this Thurs. (on alumni discount night) and probably The Crucible with my son later in the season.
At any rate, I was going to update this post, and I realized that the Theatre Coalition hadn't updated their events page. And more than that, most of the individual websites are just not updating properly. You have to poke around on Twitter and especially on Facebook to find anything out. Not only do I think this is a lazy and incredibly discouraging trend (and one that ultimately profits corporations that already have too much sway), it really means these companies are moving further and further inward and are not that interested in connecting to the broader (non-Facebook enabled) public. Maybe that doesn't matter for the student theatre companies, but even the UT Drama Centre has not publicized its events very well.
At any rate, it doesn't look like there is much of interest for me at UT this season. One of the companies is doing Twelfth Night, which I've seen too many times. VCDS is doing the Drowsy Chaperone, which is quite strange as WINDS did it last season. (Sadly, WINDS has gone defunct, due to "internal conflicts.") In the spring, UC Follies should be doing Stoppard's Arcadia, and while I've seen it several times before, I'm fairly likely to go again. That's probably the only thing I will catch (not counting Hart House productions), unless the UT Drama Centre adds a really interesting alumni show in the spring, though it doesn't seem promising at the moment.
I mentioned briefly that for George Brown, I will see the shows in the spring repertory season -- The Provoked Wife and Brecht's Fear and Misery in the Third Reich. I'm still undecided if I want to see the update to Candide, but it is usually still best (for me) to subscribe for the 3-show package, so I'll probably do that.
At any rate, I was going to update this post, and I realized that the Theatre Coalition hadn't updated their events page. And more than that, most of the individual websites are just not updating properly. You have to poke around on Twitter and especially on Facebook to find anything out. Not only do I think this is a lazy and incredibly discouraging trend (and one that ultimately profits corporations that already have too much sway), it really means these companies are moving further and further inward and are not that interested in connecting to the broader (non-Facebook enabled) public. Maybe that doesn't matter for the student theatre companies, but even the UT Drama Centre has not publicized its events very well.
At any rate, it doesn't look like there is much of interest for me at UT this season. One of the companies is doing Twelfth Night, which I've seen too many times. VCDS is doing the Drowsy Chaperone, which is quite strange as WINDS did it last season. (Sadly, WINDS has gone defunct, due to "internal conflicts.") In the spring, UC Follies should be doing Stoppard's Arcadia, and while I've seen it several times before, I'm fairly likely to go again. That's probably the only thing I will catch (not counting Hart House productions), unless the UT Drama Centre adds a really interesting alumni show in the spring, though it doesn't seem promising at the moment.
I mentioned briefly that for George Brown, I will see the shows in the spring repertory season -- The Provoked Wife and Brecht's Fear and Misery in the Third Reich. I'm still undecided if I want to see the update to Candide, but it is usually still best (for me) to subscribe for the 3-show package, so I'll probably do that.
Friday, September 29, 2017
11th Canadian Challenge - 7th review - Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
I've been reading through Mordecai Richler's fiction in a very bizarre order. I read The Incomparable Atuk first and then Barney's Version. Duddy Kravitz makes a short cameo in Barney's Version, but he seems a much tamer version of his younger self, though still a bit of a hustler. Both Duddy and Barney seem determined to stick out and be fairly difficult (if not to say obnoxious) Jews who refuse to be assimilated into Montreal society (neither the Anglophone nor the Francophone culture). Anyway, I decided I really ought to just buckle down and read The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. I'll follow up very shortly with The Street. I haven't decided when to tackle St. Urbain's Horseman, which is centred on one of Duddy's schoolmates, Hersh (though I wouldn't be surprised if Duddy doesn't at least make an appearance, though maybe just in flashback form), but I will get around to it one of these days. At any rate, it is peculiar that I have held off from reading his best known work until now.
I think there is no question I would have liked the novel a bit more had I read it while I was younger, though it's possible that because I was a school teacher so early in my career, there wouldn't have been a time after I left university that I would have really been receptive to Duddy Kravitz, who terrorizes his teachers, particularly Mr. MacPherson. I myself was harassed by a number of students, all of whom loved exploiting weaknesses and weren't interested in teachers "taking an interest" in them and certainly had no interest in anything being offered up at school. Given this background, I didn't even enjoy the movie Ferris Bueller particularly much, and I think those negative feelings would have been even stronger had I encountered Duddy Kravitz and his ilk back then. Now I am simply too old to have much interest in juvenile delinquent antics. (I have to admit I didn't care much for Narayan's Swami and Friends either.)
I am actually more intrigued by some of the secondary characters in the novel, such as the alcoholic Mr. MacPherson and moreso Duddy's father, Max. While Max reveres his smart son, Lennie, who is studying to become a doctor, he is even more drawn to the antics of the Boy Wonder, Jerry Dingleman, who worked his way up from nothing to become a rich hoodlum. There seem to be two role models that urban Jews could look up to, either the bookish types who go on to become doctors and lawyers or the slick operators, who live the fast life. Duddy would surely have been tempted by the flashy, seemingly easy life on his own account, but the fact that his father also validated it pushed him further down this path.
I did find the novel more interesting after Duddy graduates (towards the bottom of his class) and starts scheming almost immediately. As a side note, the goings on at the Jewish resort, where he worked right after school, reminded me just a bit of Will Eisner's A Contract with God. Even Dingleman is somewhat impressed and perhaps a bit concerned at how frantic Duddy is to make money (actually in order to buy up real estate!).
What is interesting is that Duddy often but doesn't always come out on top in his interactions with other schemers. Montreal is a big place, with lots of con men around in the circles that he begins to frequent. Duddy hasn't been around the block as many times as they have, but he has pluck and determination and a willingness to get right back up after he has been knocked down. This does make him more appealing than the student who fairly pointlessly undermined his teachers, and perhaps I am rooting for him a bit (certainly far more than I would have thought at the start of the book). All that said, I still wouldn't want to have to deal with Duddy in real life, just as I would have studiously avoided Barney. I'm still undecided if I will watch the film that made a star of Richard Dreyfuss (or the film version of Barney's Version for that matter), but maybe I'll get around to it one of these days. A lot depends on how much of the humour of the book is captured. One of the funniest passages is when Duddy finally gets to screen the film of the bar mitzva that he had filmed (as an early money-making venture). It sounds like an absolute riot but one that satisfied the boy's father (shades of The Music Man perhaps?), and I'm just wondering if that made its way into the movie. I guess there's only one way to find out...
I think there is no question I would have liked the novel a bit more had I read it while I was younger, though it's possible that because I was a school teacher so early in my career, there wouldn't have been a time after I left university that I would have really been receptive to Duddy Kravitz, who terrorizes his teachers, particularly Mr. MacPherson. I myself was harassed by a number of students, all of whom loved exploiting weaknesses and weren't interested in teachers "taking an interest" in them and certainly had no interest in anything being offered up at school. Given this background, I didn't even enjoy the movie Ferris Bueller particularly much, and I think those negative feelings would have been even stronger had I encountered Duddy Kravitz and his ilk back then. Now I am simply too old to have much interest in juvenile delinquent antics. (I have to admit I didn't care much for Narayan's Swami and Friends either.)
I am actually more intrigued by some of the secondary characters in the novel, such as the alcoholic Mr. MacPherson and moreso Duddy's father, Max. While Max reveres his smart son, Lennie, who is studying to become a doctor, he is even more drawn to the antics of the Boy Wonder, Jerry Dingleman, who worked his way up from nothing to become a rich hoodlum. There seem to be two role models that urban Jews could look up to, either the bookish types who go on to become doctors and lawyers or the slick operators, who live the fast life. Duddy would surely have been tempted by the flashy, seemingly easy life on his own account, but the fact that his father also validated it pushed him further down this path.
I did find the novel more interesting after Duddy graduates (towards the bottom of his class) and starts scheming almost immediately. As a side note, the goings on at the Jewish resort, where he worked right after school, reminded me just a bit of Will Eisner's A Contract with God. Even Dingleman is somewhat impressed and perhaps a bit concerned at how frantic Duddy is to make money (actually in order to buy up real estate!).
What is interesting is that Duddy often but doesn't always come out on top in his interactions with other schemers. Montreal is a big place, with lots of con men around in the circles that he begins to frequent. Duddy hasn't been around the block as many times as they have, but he has pluck and determination and a willingness to get right back up after he has been knocked down. This does make him more appealing than the student who fairly pointlessly undermined his teachers, and perhaps I am rooting for him a bit (certainly far more than I would have thought at the start of the book). All that said, I still wouldn't want to have to deal with Duddy in real life, just as I would have studiously avoided Barney. I'm still undecided if I will watch the film that made a star of Richard Dreyfuss (or the film version of Barney's Version for that matter), but maybe I'll get around to it one of these days. A lot depends on how much of the humour of the book is captured. One of the funniest passages is when Duddy finally gets to screen the film of the bar mitzva that he had filmed (as an early money-making venture). It sounds like an absolute riot but one that satisfied the boy's father (shades of The Music Man perhaps?), and I'm just wondering if that made its way into the movie. I guess there's only one way to find out...
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Cold Reading Rebirth
Maybe the title is just a tad bit melodramatic, but this weekend is an exciting one (even if I am not in Vancouver taking in Beckett's Happy Days). Toronto Cold Reads is back (details here)! I'll try to make it to most of them this season, especially because I participated in 3Fest this time around. My contributions are not being read this week, however. I'm not quite sure when they will go up.
In addition, Sing-for-Your-Supper had two months it was on hiatus (and an extremely poorly attended summer show), but it is back next Monday at the Tarragon Theatre Workspace (actors show up at 7 and the shindig starts at 8). I have one piece for sure on the line-up (Night Out, which was one of the pieces at my lightly attended reading, so you've got one more chance to see it), and I am waiting to hear back about a piece I wrote about college mascots. I'll probably post the script for that later.
Anyway, I am looking forward to the evening and generally think this time around I will feel a little more at home at both, as I finally know a fair number of the participants. Hope you can join us.
In addition, Sing-for-Your-Supper had two months it was on hiatus (and an extremely poorly attended summer show), but it is back next Monday at the Tarragon Theatre Workspace (actors show up at 7 and the shindig starts at 8). I have one piece for sure on the line-up (Night Out, which was one of the pieces at my lightly attended reading, so you've got one more chance to see it), and I am waiting to hear back about a piece I wrote about college mascots. I'll probably post the script for that later.
Anyway, I am looking forward to the evening and generally think this time around I will feel a little more at home at both, as I finally know a fair number of the participants. Hope you can join us.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Baker's Aliens
Coal Mine's season has opened strong with Annie Baker's The Aliens. This play was supposed to be produced by a different company and then the Toronto rights sort of bounced around and now here we are. I liked it quite a lot, and in fact I think overall I enjoyed it more than John (which certainly had its moments -- and an awesome set!) and definitely more than The Flick (which really dragged in parts). This play has the realistic dialogue and the long reaction shots and silences that mark Baker's work, but it is compressed into 2 hours.
One thing that was a little odd (off?) is that the main characters are supposed to be 30+ and just hanging around, on pretty much a daily basis, at the back of a coffee shop in Vermont. I don't know the age of the actors but they looked a lot closer to mid to late 20s, which then made it a bit more palatable that they were still lost and that they were so hapless that they decide to befriend the 17 year old trainee at the coffee shop. That surely wasn't Baker's intent, however, and maybe they should have recruited two actors that looked older. This is only a relatively minor miscue, however.
An avenue that is somewhat unexplored is whether one of these lost souls, Jasper, really has writing talent. I thought the section that he read was not bad, though whether it would hold up at novel length is another story. Certainly, he could use a more discriminating audience to get to the next level, and he isn't likely to get that hanging out at the back of the coffee shop. (While it has a very different set-up, George Walker's recent play The Damage Done has one of his struggling characters decide to become a playwright and perhaps is actually not too bad at it, but again it's hard to judge since the audience (his ex-girlfriend) is a biased one.) Back to The Aliens, it's tragic one way if he is just deluding himself about his talent, but it is tragic in a different way if he has talent but will never find a proper audience, since he has no connections or any ideas of how to get out of the small town hell he is trapped in. Of course, they are only a 3 hour drive from Boston (as the 17 year old points out at some point), but that can sometimes feel like the Continental Divide for people whose horizons have shrunk. Anyway, I will try to sit down and read the play, but I'm glad I saw it live first. I wouldn't have wanted to know the ending going in. It is playing for two more weeks, and the reviews are coming in strong,* so don't dawdle. This may be one of those cases where being right up next to the action (along the walls) is better than being in the standard seating arrangement at the end. It is worth noting, however, that lots and lots of herbal cigarettes are smoked, so if this is going to be a major irritant, you should take a pass and go see something else instead.
Speaking of upcoming events, I see that Walker has another play (probably a premiere) called The Chance opening in mid-October. The cast is stunning (including Fiona Reid and Claire Burns), so maybe I don't want to promote it too much until I have my own tickets... I've also more or less decided to try to catch Will Eno's Title and Deed up at Tarragon, and I also have to book my ticket for The Fish Eyes Trilogy at Factory. So quite a bit of theatre in Sept. and Oct. (after a short lull), and of course Toronto Cold Read and SFYS are starting back up again as well. So a lot to look forward to and to figure out how to fit into my calendar.
* I don't want to list all the reviews, but I thought Slotkin's review and the Stage Door review were particularly insightful.
One thing that was a little odd (off?) is that the main characters are supposed to be 30+ and just hanging around, on pretty much a daily basis, at the back of a coffee shop in Vermont. I don't know the age of the actors but they looked a lot closer to mid to late 20s, which then made it a bit more palatable that they were still lost and that they were so hapless that they decide to befriend the 17 year old trainee at the coffee shop. That surely wasn't Baker's intent, however, and maybe they should have recruited two actors that looked older. This is only a relatively minor miscue, however.
An avenue that is somewhat unexplored is whether one of these lost souls, Jasper, really has writing talent. I thought the section that he read was not bad, though whether it would hold up at novel length is another story. Certainly, he could use a more discriminating audience to get to the next level, and he isn't likely to get that hanging out at the back of the coffee shop. (While it has a very different set-up, George Walker's recent play The Damage Done has one of his struggling characters decide to become a playwright and perhaps is actually not too bad at it, but again it's hard to judge since the audience (his ex-girlfriend) is a biased one.) Back to The Aliens, it's tragic one way if he is just deluding himself about his talent, but it is tragic in a different way if he has talent but will never find a proper audience, since he has no connections or any ideas of how to get out of the small town hell he is trapped in. Of course, they are only a 3 hour drive from Boston (as the 17 year old points out at some point), but that can sometimes feel like the Continental Divide for people whose horizons have shrunk. Anyway, I will try to sit down and read the play, but I'm glad I saw it live first. I wouldn't have wanted to know the ending going in. It is playing for two more weeks, and the reviews are coming in strong,* so don't dawdle. This may be one of those cases where being right up next to the action (along the walls) is better than being in the standard seating arrangement at the end. It is worth noting, however, that lots and lots of herbal cigarettes are smoked, so if this is going to be a major irritant, you should take a pass and go see something else instead.
Speaking of upcoming events, I see that Walker has another play (probably a premiere) called The Chance opening in mid-October. The cast is stunning (including Fiona Reid and Claire Burns), so maybe I don't want to promote it too much until I have my own tickets... I've also more or less decided to try to catch Will Eno's Title and Deed up at Tarragon, and I also have to book my ticket for The Fish Eyes Trilogy at Factory. So quite a bit of theatre in Sept. and Oct. (after a short lull), and of course Toronto Cold Read and SFYS are starting back up again as well. So a lot to look forward to and to figure out how to fit into my calendar.
* I don't want to list all the reviews, but I thought Slotkin's review and the Stage Door review were particularly insightful.
Waiting, waiting, waiting for Godot
I had a chance to catch the current production of Waiting for Godot at Soulpepper. I decided that, since I had seen this play in two earlier productions, I just didn't feel like paying $60+ dollars, so I went the rush ticket route. I had planned on going last Thursday, but work got in the way yet again. So I thought I would try for Friday, even though I had relatively low expectations of getting in. Nonetheless, there were quite a few available seats (and not only in the first two rows!), so I plunked my money down.
I should admit up front that I was not in the very best of moods and not completely receptive to the play, just because I was tired out from a long week. I kind of was going out of a sense of obligation, which does dampen things a bit. And this Beckett play is sort of a bleak masterpiece, but is fairly inert for long stretches. I caught myself nearly nodding off at a couple of points, at least until Pozzo and Lucky show up. What is somewhat different about this production is that somewhere around the midway point of the first act and through most of the second act, the two leads tried to amplify the situation, so for instance anytime that Vladimir says they can't go since they are waiting for Godot, Estragon shouts wildly rather than groans, which is the "approved" approach in the stage directions. There was also a fair bit of physical interaction between the two -- perhaps out of character for two completely world-weary characters. I was also a bit taken aback at just how roughly they treated the boy at the end of Act I (and was somewhat glad that I hadn't taken my son after all). I was also a bit worried for the actor playing Lucky, as Pozzo really was yanking his rope fairly hard, even if he did move with the rope, anticipating the blows as it were. In general, the play has a lot more shouting going on in Act II than I recall from other productions, which personally I thought was a mistake. This means there is less distance between Pozzo (who does shout a lot) and the other characters.
On the other hand, when Lucky goes into his long thinking speech, the production also departs from the stage directions, so it was slower and far more intelligible than other productions. I thought this was actually a good thing, and this is probably the best Lucky I have seen, or at least the most memorable. Pozzo was quite good, though I think I still preferred Brian Dennehy in the Goodman production (that then transferred to Stratford in 2013, where/when I caught it). Still, as an overall piece, the best production I have seen was in Chicago (Remy Bumppo) all the way back in 1998. (I probably have mentioned more than once that I was supposed to see Godot in Vancouver at The Cultch, but the lousy directions on their website caused me to get lost, so I just went home. Now that I think about it, that might make a good short piece.) Somehow I just wasn't as gripped by the main duo and their fate, however, though I should say this is likely partly due to my general exhaustion. When all four characters were on stage, the play really came alive, but I just wasn't as interested when it dropped back to Vladimir and Estragon.*
Overall, I thought this was a good, but not stellar, production, so I am a bit surprised at the raves it is getting from critics in the industry (aside from the Globe and Mail, which was surprisingly negative**). I would certainly recommend going if one hasn't seen the play live, but it may not live up to one's expectations if one has already seen it. (And maybe the rush ticket route is the way to go.) I suspect this is my last time round with this play† (diminishing returns and all that), but never say never.
* To be completely frank, it felt to me Diego Matamoros and Oliver Dennis (or the director) were a bit bored with these characters and tried to change things up and push the boundaries so they aren't such static parts, but I thought that was a mistake.
** I just came across another highly critical review of the Soulpepper production, and while I don't agree with everything said here, I do agree that the production felt interminable and that there was something off between the main duo. I also had already noted that Pozzo was fairly intriguing and that this was the most distinctive (and memorable) approach to Lucky I have seen. I can well understand why Soulpepper doesn't link to this review.
† The play that I am really trying to see (Beckett's Happy Days) just is not in standard rotation at all. Endgame, which itself only has rare sightings, is still produced more often. The only production of Happy Days this entire season was out in Vancouver at UBC. I came very close to flying out to see that and do a few other things, but the flight prices just never came down to the point it was a reasonable decision. I guess I'll just have to keep hoping it turns up somewhere nearby next season. While it isn't as "deep" as Godot, it is a bit more amusing, so I am also hoping to see Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead again. It looks like Soulpepper put it on one year before I moved to Toronto (drat), but then I somehow missed a production at the Annex Theatre in 2015. So that's on me to try not to miss it the next time it turns up.
I should admit up front that I was not in the very best of moods and not completely receptive to the play, just because I was tired out from a long week. I kind of was going out of a sense of obligation, which does dampen things a bit. And this Beckett play is sort of a bleak masterpiece, but is fairly inert for long stretches. I caught myself nearly nodding off at a couple of points, at least until Pozzo and Lucky show up. What is somewhat different about this production is that somewhere around the midway point of the first act and through most of the second act, the two leads tried to amplify the situation, so for instance anytime that Vladimir says they can't go since they are waiting for Godot, Estragon shouts wildly rather than groans, which is the "approved" approach in the stage directions. There was also a fair bit of physical interaction between the two -- perhaps out of character for two completely world-weary characters. I was also a bit taken aback at just how roughly they treated the boy at the end of Act I (and was somewhat glad that I hadn't taken my son after all). I was also a bit worried for the actor playing Lucky, as Pozzo really was yanking his rope fairly hard, even if he did move with the rope, anticipating the blows as it were. In general, the play has a lot more shouting going on in Act II than I recall from other productions, which personally I thought was a mistake. This means there is less distance between Pozzo (who does shout a lot) and the other characters.
On the other hand, when Lucky goes into his long thinking speech, the production also departs from the stage directions, so it was slower and far more intelligible than other productions. I thought this was actually a good thing, and this is probably the best Lucky I have seen, or at least the most memorable. Pozzo was quite good, though I think I still preferred Brian Dennehy in the Goodman production (that then transferred to Stratford in 2013, where/when I caught it). Still, as an overall piece, the best production I have seen was in Chicago (Remy Bumppo) all the way back in 1998. (I probably have mentioned more than once that I was supposed to see Godot in Vancouver at The Cultch, but the lousy directions on their website caused me to get lost, so I just went home. Now that I think about it, that might make a good short piece.) Somehow I just wasn't as gripped by the main duo and their fate, however, though I should say this is likely partly due to my general exhaustion. When all four characters were on stage, the play really came alive, but I just wasn't as interested when it dropped back to Vladimir and Estragon.*
Overall, I thought this was a good, but not stellar, production, so I am a bit surprised at the raves it is getting from critics in the industry (aside from the Globe and Mail, which was surprisingly negative**). I would certainly recommend going if one hasn't seen the play live, but it may not live up to one's expectations if one has already seen it. (And maybe the rush ticket route is the way to go.) I suspect this is my last time round with this play† (diminishing returns and all that), but never say never.
* To be completely frank, it felt to me Diego Matamoros and Oliver Dennis (or the director) were a bit bored with these characters and tried to change things up and push the boundaries so they aren't such static parts, but I thought that was a mistake.
** I just came across another highly critical review of the Soulpepper production, and while I don't agree with everything said here, I do agree that the production felt interminable and that there was something off between the main duo. I also had already noted that Pozzo was fairly intriguing and that this was the most distinctive (and memorable) approach to Lucky I have seen. I can well understand why Soulpepper doesn't link to this review.
† The play that I am really trying to see (Beckett's Happy Days) just is not in standard rotation at all. Endgame, which itself only has rare sightings, is still produced more often. The only production of Happy Days this entire season was out in Vancouver at UBC. I came very close to flying out to see that and do a few other things, but the flight prices just never came down to the point it was a reasonable decision. I guess I'll just have to keep hoping it turns up somewhere nearby next season. While it isn't as "deep" as Godot, it is a bit more amusing, so I am also hoping to see Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead again. It looks like Soulpepper put it on one year before I moved to Toronto (drat), but then I somehow missed a production at the Annex Theatre in 2015. So that's on me to try not to miss it the next time it turns up.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Underground reading
The reading of my short plays is over. I'm not going to lie -- I have very mixed feelings. The reading itself went quite well, but I couldn't round up an audience at all. Of the 12 or so people who said they thought they could make it, only 2 showed up (one from work and one other actor I know but none from my block). This is going to be a sore spot for me for a while, and I think I'll just refuse to discuss it with the people who bailed (regardless of how valid their excuses were).
Fortunately, the actors brought a few friends, and my family was there. I guess we had twice as many people in the audience as actors, but still, it was a huge disappointment, given the number of people I had started counting on. (If 5 or so more had made it, it would have really helped to fill up the theatre.) I realize Tuesdays are a tough sell, but essentially every other date would have had some conflicts. Thank goodness I didn't try to go the full production route!
Of the people who actually turned up, two older couples left at the intermission, presumably because they thought it was a full production, rather than a semi-staged reading.* But otherwise, people were very complimentary, including liking the music that we picked to start the show. Even the manager of The Red Sandcastle thought the pieces were quirky, written with a unique voice. And one of the actors asked if she could keep the scripts to work up a monologue for future auditions. I probably should have tried to record the pieces, but it would have taken away from my overall enjoyment of the reading (and I did think the pieces went over well despite the poor turnout). I did attempt an audio recording of the last rehearsal, and I'll see how well that came out.
We were able to get all the pieces done in 90 minutes, including the intermission. Then I hung out for just a while afterwards with the actors. Good thing too, since we were sort of hustled out and I had forgotten my laptop in the rush. The manager tracked me down outside and handed it over. That would have been quite a disaster had I left it there.
The actors and I talked a little bit whether I would take the pieces to the next level, and the answer is probably not, though they did think that The Re-Up could be expanded, perhaps with the AIs conspiring to keep their respective owners together. That's not such a bad idea, and I could work it up a bit more. If Seven Siblings does another SF-based festival, I might submit to that. But I think I learned my lesson to not attempt to produce a piece on my own, since I clearly do not have enough of a fan base. I'll only do something in collaboration with another company or through the Fringe. And now, I think I'm done talking about these pieces, and I'll move on to the next thing.
* On further reflection, they might also have thought that Eric Peterson (the Billy Bishop actor) was involved one way or another.
Fortunately, the actors brought a few friends, and my family was there. I guess we had twice as many people in the audience as actors, but still, it was a huge disappointment, given the number of people I had started counting on. (If 5 or so more had made it, it would have really helped to fill up the theatre.) I realize Tuesdays are a tough sell, but essentially every other date would have had some conflicts. Thank goodness I didn't try to go the full production route!
Of the people who actually turned up, two older couples left at the intermission, presumably because they thought it was a full production, rather than a semi-staged reading.* But otherwise, people were very complimentary, including liking the music that we picked to start the show. Even the manager of The Red Sandcastle thought the pieces were quirky, written with a unique voice. And one of the actors asked if she could keep the scripts to work up a monologue for future auditions. I probably should have tried to record the pieces, but it would have taken away from my overall enjoyment of the reading (and I did think the pieces went over well despite the poor turnout). I did attempt an audio recording of the last rehearsal, and I'll see how well that came out.
We were able to get all the pieces done in 90 minutes, including the intermission. Then I hung out for just a while afterwards with the actors. Good thing too, since we were sort of hustled out and I had forgotten my laptop in the rush. The manager tracked me down outside and handed it over. That would have been quite a disaster had I left it there.
The actors and I talked a little bit whether I would take the pieces to the next level, and the answer is probably not, though they did think that The Re-Up could be expanded, perhaps with the AIs conspiring to keep their respective owners together. That's not such a bad idea, and I could work it up a bit more. If Seven Siblings does another SF-based festival, I might submit to that. But I think I learned my lesson to not attempt to produce a piece on my own, since I clearly do not have enough of a fan base. I'll only do something in collaboration with another company or through the Fringe. And now, I think I'm done talking about these pieces, and I'll move on to the next thing.
* On further reflection, they might also have thought that Eric Peterson (the Billy Bishop actor) was involved one way or another.
Monday, September 18, 2017
A full weekend
This weekend was just as exhausting as a typical workweek! To some degree it started on Friday where many of us were on a learning tour of the east side, where we walked the entire route of the future Downtown Relief Line, i.e. from Pape station down to the Unilever site and then across the Don and finally to Union. We found out about the city's plans for various stations along the way. Very interesting, but it was a particularly warm day, so we had to stop and hydrate several times, including at Kim's Convenience (I guess they still do the exterior shots here).
Probably the weirdest and saddest thing was that as we cut through a neighbourhood, this squirrel started darting out and sniffing people's legs and shoes, and then started chasing after us. I was trying very hard not to get bit, as it probably was quite sick, since this is not normal squirrel behaviour!
Anyway, it followed us to Queen and it then ran out into the street and was run over by a streetcar. That cast a bit of a gloom on the tail end of the tour. Some calculated and we did something like 12,000 steps on the tour, though I walked up to Pape Station before the tour.
I did manage to get a few things done at work, though I left off from starting the big evaluation report that is due soon. In general, we are still somewhat basking in the glow of getting a long, detailed report approved by the Board, and it will be posted to the public website next week. It has been a lot of effort getting this ready.
I did take a bit of a break when I got home, but had to find some time in the late evening to put the last side of the border on the quilt, since I had set a time to drop off the quilt on Sunday. Saturday really wasn't an option, since there was a massive street party that lasted all day. In any event, I did finish it. You can see about 2/3rds of it here, with the bottom part sort of tucked under.
Sat. morning we got up and swept the sidewalks and the street and waited for the bouncy castles to arrive.
It was a long, long day. There were all kinds of games, including a few for adults, though I didn't play any of them. I took a few turns watching the bouncy castles and had some food. I didn't really chat that much with people I didn't know, which I guess is part of the point of a street party.
But it was a good event, if somewhat overwhelming. What other street party has a master chef and a DJ right out in the front yards?
I'm fairly sure both of our kids had a good time, perhaps despite themselves. This year I actually hung out for a while at the after party, which is just for the core families on the street.
However, I did have to wake up early on Sunday and press the quilt one last time. Then I went and got the ZipCar for the drive out to Mississauga (not Etobicoke as I had thought). The drive really wasn't that bad, but it still was more driving than I am used to at that hour. I went over the various options with the long-arm quilter. She thinks it will be done in about 3 weeks, and best of all, she will mail it back to me, so I don't have to make another trip.
I did the grocery shopping, and I helped the kids with homework. I did a bit more prep work for the play reading coming up this Tuesday. I probably should have gone to the gym, but instead, I crashed for a fairly long nap in the afternoon. I'm actually still tired, but I guess I'm ready to face the week. As ready as I'm going to be, I suppose.
Probably the weirdest and saddest thing was that as we cut through a neighbourhood, this squirrel started darting out and sniffing people's legs and shoes, and then started chasing after us. I was trying very hard not to get bit, as it probably was quite sick, since this is not normal squirrel behaviour!
Anyway, it followed us to Queen and it then ran out into the street and was run over by a streetcar. That cast a bit of a gloom on the tail end of the tour. Some calculated and we did something like 12,000 steps on the tour, though I walked up to Pape Station before the tour.
I did manage to get a few things done at work, though I left off from starting the big evaluation report that is due soon. In general, we are still somewhat basking in the glow of getting a long, detailed report approved by the Board, and it will be posted to the public website next week. It has been a lot of effort getting this ready.
I did take a bit of a break when I got home, but had to find some time in the late evening to put the last side of the border on the quilt, since I had set a time to drop off the quilt on Sunday. Saturday really wasn't an option, since there was a massive street party that lasted all day. In any event, I did finish it. You can see about 2/3rds of it here, with the bottom part sort of tucked under.
Sat. morning we got up and swept the sidewalks and the street and waited for the bouncy castles to arrive.
It was a long, long day. There were all kinds of games, including a few for adults, though I didn't play any of them. I took a few turns watching the bouncy castles and had some food. I didn't really chat that much with people I didn't know, which I guess is part of the point of a street party.
But it was a good event, if somewhat overwhelming. What other street party has a master chef and a DJ right out in the front yards?
I'm fairly sure both of our kids had a good time, perhaps despite themselves. This year I actually hung out for a while at the after party, which is just for the core families on the street.
However, I did have to wake up early on Sunday and press the quilt one last time. Then I went and got the ZipCar for the drive out to Mississauga (not Etobicoke as I had thought). The drive really wasn't that bad, but it still was more driving than I am used to at that hour. I went over the various options with the long-arm quilter. She thinks it will be done in about 3 weeks, and best of all, she will mail it back to me, so I don't have to make another trip.
I did the grocery shopping, and I helped the kids with homework. I did a bit more prep work for the play reading coming up this Tuesday. I probably should have gone to the gym, but instead, I crashed for a fairly long nap in the afternoon. I'm actually still tired, but I guess I'm ready to face the week. As ready as I'm going to be, I suppose.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Nostalgia trip
On Sat. I went to the Danforth Music Hall for the first time. It was pretty good, though I am somewhat surprised how far back the balcony area is from the stage. I guess it's better than Lee's Palace, however, which maybe sorta has upstairs seating but not with a clear view of the stage. In terms of distance to the stage, it is definitely worse than Metro (in Chicago) where the balcony wasn't that far away, but the seats are vastly better. (At Metro you usually ended up standing up all night in the balcony, which sort of defeated the purpose.) I guess because everyone that expects to stand up and dance is on the main floor most people in the balcony stayed in their seats until the end of the concert. In fact one guy who was more than a little obnoxious about trying to get people dancing in their seats was finally escorted out!
Anyway, after missing out on a couple of previous mini-tours, I managed to catch The Lowest of the Low at the Danforth Music Hall. It was actually a sold out show, so there is definitely pent-up demand to see this group, now that they have reformed and been touring (basically only Ontario and Buffalo, though they are supporting 54-40 in Vancouver -- more on that later).
The crowd was definitely older -- mostly 45+. In other words, people who had been around for the band's first incarnation in the late 80s into the early 90s. As it happens, I didn't go see a lot of live music when I was in Toronto in the early 90s, though I did manage to see The Waltons and then one memorable Christmas concert, Sara McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies (and a bunch of other acts I don't recall). I didn't venture over to Lee's Palace or The Horseshoe or any of those other venues, which was certainly my loss.
I wouldn't say I am making up for lost time exactly, but I am occasionally trying to get over to some of these venues when there is a band I'm somewhat interested in seeing, so I have made it to Lee's Palace twice now (once for a very good Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker concert). I see that 54-40 is going to be at the Horseshoe Tavern, so I think I'll go catch them. Ron Hawkins (leader of The Lowest of the Low) said that they would be playing the Horseshoe soon, but there wasn't anything on the website. I suspect since they are opening for 54-40 in Vancouver, they will also be opening for them at the Horseshoe (though perhaps not for the entire string of shows). It's a "gamble," but I think I'll take it.
It's sort of weird having nostalgia for something that didn't happen to you. The Lowest of the Low in particular is such a Toronto-based band, with many songs derived directly from Toronto places, particularly in the east end. There is actually a piece in Now on this very topic. So I have a bit of nostalgia for hearing them on the radio, but it wasn't like I grew up here and did all the things that kids growing up in the city did (sneaking in to bars with loose carding policies etc.). One of my co-workers did all that (and my wife did a fair bit of that in Chicago though it was more clubbing than bar hopping). I kind of missed out on that, though I did check out the bar scene in Ann Arbor when I got to university.
Anyway, what makes this slightly less sad and desperate is that The Lowest of the Low have a new album out -- Do the Right Now. (Granted 2 or 3 songs are dusted off from their glory days and rerecorded, but actually several of the new songs are quite good. "Powerlines" is really growing on me. Here is a link to the video, and I also liked "California Gothic," which closes the album.) It turns out this was the CD release party. I didn't get the CD, but it was amusing hearing Hawkins ask the crowd who still liked CDs and vinyl and who wanted their music on a USB stick. Given the collective age of the audience, CDs and vinyl were the big winners, but that wouldn't be the case if you asked a bunch of 20 something club kids...
I didn't make a true set list, but this is what I can recall.
From Do the Right Now, they played "Powerlines," "Gerona Train," "Do the Right Now," "Something to Believe In," "Immortal" and "California Gothic."
From Shakespeare My Butt, they played "So Long Bernie," "Salesmen, Cheats and Liars," "Rosy and Grey," "For the Hand of Magdelena," "Bleed a Little While Tonight," and "Gossip Talkin' Blues." I've fairly sure they played "Subversives" as the first song in the encore. I'm relatively sure they played "Just About 'The Only' Blues" and "Eternal Fatalist" and they may have played "4 O'Clock Stop," but I'm not completely sure. Some of the songs sound different live, and I am clearly not a hard-core fan like most of the crowd, who could sing long stretches of the songs, not just the choruses. Anyway, it was a bit of a surprise that they didn't play "Under the Carlaw Bridge," given that they were on the east end, nor did they play "Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes," which I think was their biggest radio hit.
From Hallucigenia, they played "City Full of Cowards" and "Gamble." I think they played "That Song About Trees & Kites," but am not entirely sure. I sort of expected them to play "Pistol," but they didn't. (This may not ever have been part of their live set.)
There is a relatively unknown Lowest of the Low album called Sordid Fiction, and they played "The Last Recidivist" off of that. Hoopla has this album, so I'll try to listen to it soon.
I honestly am not sure whether they played "The Kids are All Wrong," which was a single they were pushing a couple of years ago. It does have a fair bit of harmonica on it, and one guy in the band did play harmonica from time to time, so perhaps they did play this one. I wasn't tuned in enough to this song to recognize it during the show.
It was a good show, even if it did make me feel a bit old (understandably so). I won't be chasing The Lowest of the Low around the city or around Ontario (or Buffalo, where they also have a bit of a following), but I'd go and see them again under the right circumstances.
Edit: Someone finally updated the setlist here, and I got most of the songs correct, though they didn't play "4 O'Clock Stop," "That Song About Trees & Kites," or "The Kids are All Wrong." Still a solid show.
Anyway, after missing out on a couple of previous mini-tours, I managed to catch The Lowest of the Low at the Danforth Music Hall. It was actually a sold out show, so there is definitely pent-up demand to see this group, now that they have reformed and been touring (basically only Ontario and Buffalo, though they are supporting 54-40 in Vancouver -- more on that later).
The crowd was definitely older -- mostly 45+. In other words, people who had been around for the band's first incarnation in the late 80s into the early 90s. As it happens, I didn't go see a lot of live music when I was in Toronto in the early 90s, though I did manage to see The Waltons and then one memorable Christmas concert, Sara McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies (and a bunch of other acts I don't recall). I didn't venture over to Lee's Palace or The Horseshoe or any of those other venues, which was certainly my loss.
I wouldn't say I am making up for lost time exactly, but I am occasionally trying to get over to some of these venues when there is a band I'm somewhat interested in seeing, so I have made it to Lee's Palace twice now (once for a very good Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker concert). I see that 54-40 is going to be at the Horseshoe Tavern, so I think I'll go catch them. Ron Hawkins (leader of The Lowest of the Low) said that they would be playing the Horseshoe soon, but there wasn't anything on the website. I suspect since they are opening for 54-40 in Vancouver, they will also be opening for them at the Horseshoe (though perhaps not for the entire string of shows). It's a "gamble," but I think I'll take it.
It's sort of weird having nostalgia for something that didn't happen to you. The Lowest of the Low in particular is such a Toronto-based band, with many songs derived directly from Toronto places, particularly in the east end. There is actually a piece in Now on this very topic. So I have a bit of nostalgia for hearing them on the radio, but it wasn't like I grew up here and did all the things that kids growing up in the city did (sneaking in to bars with loose carding policies etc.). One of my co-workers did all that (and my wife did a fair bit of that in Chicago though it was more clubbing than bar hopping). I kind of missed out on that, though I did check out the bar scene in Ann Arbor when I got to university.
Anyway, what makes this slightly less sad and desperate is that The Lowest of the Low have a new album out -- Do the Right Now. (Granted 2 or 3 songs are dusted off from their glory days and rerecorded, but actually several of the new songs are quite good. "Powerlines" is really growing on me. Here is a link to the video, and I also liked "California Gothic," which closes the album.) It turns out this was the CD release party. I didn't get the CD, but it was amusing hearing Hawkins ask the crowd who still liked CDs and vinyl and who wanted their music on a USB stick. Given the collective age of the audience, CDs and vinyl were the big winners, but that wouldn't be the case if you asked a bunch of 20 something club kids...
I didn't make a true set list, but this is what I can recall.
From Do the Right Now, they played "Powerlines," "Gerona Train," "Do the Right Now," "Something to Believe In," "Immortal" and "California Gothic."
From Shakespeare My Butt, they played "So Long Bernie," "Salesmen, Cheats and Liars," "Rosy and Grey," "For the Hand of Magdelena," "Bleed a Little While Tonight," and "Gossip Talkin' Blues." I've fairly sure they played "Subversives" as the first song in the encore. I'm relatively sure they played "Just About 'The Only' Blues" and "Eternal Fatalist" and they may have played "4 O'Clock Stop," but I'm not completely sure. Some of the songs sound different live, and I am clearly not a hard-core fan like most of the crowd, who could sing long stretches of the songs, not just the choruses. Anyway, it was a bit of a surprise that they didn't play "Under the Carlaw Bridge," given that they were on the east end, nor did they play "Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes," which I think was their biggest radio hit.
From Hallucigenia, they played "City Full of Cowards" and "Gamble." I think they played "That Song About Trees & Kites," but am not entirely sure. I sort of expected them to play "Pistol," but they didn't. (This may not ever have been part of their live set.)
There is a relatively unknown Lowest of the Low album called Sordid Fiction, and they played "The Last Recidivist" off of that. Hoopla has this album, so I'll try to listen to it soon.
I honestly am not sure whether they played "The Kids are All Wrong," which was a single they were pushing a couple of years ago. It does have a fair bit of harmonica on it, and one guy in the band did play harmonica from time to time, so perhaps they did play this one. I wasn't tuned in enough to this song to recognize it during the show.
It was a good show, even if it did make me feel a bit old (understandably so). I won't be chasing The Lowest of the Low around the city or around Ontario (or Buffalo, where they also have a bit of a following), but I'd go and see them again under the right circumstances.
Edit: Someone finally updated the setlist here, and I got most of the songs correct, though they didn't play "4 O'Clock Stop," "That Song About Trees & Kites," or "The Kids are All Wrong." Still a solid show.
Saturday, September 9, 2017
Staged Reading - Sept 19
As I alluded to in the previous post, I am having a staged reading of 6 short plays (nearly all of which were performed at Sing-for-Your-Supper over the past 2 years) coming up soon. Even more exciting is that many of the stars of SFYS will be reading the various parts: Jamie Johnson, David Straus, Jane E. Smythe, Chris Peterson, Carina Cojeen and Elizabeth Rose Morriss.
This will be Tues. Sept. 19 at Red Sandcastle, starting at 7:00 pm. One night only! The event is briefly mentioned on the Red Sandcastle website.
The postcard is below.
See you there!
This will be Tues. Sept. 19 at Red Sandcastle, starting at 7:00 pm. One night only! The event is briefly mentioned on the Red Sandcastle website.
The postcard is below.
See you there!
Fall has arrived
We had felt a bit of chill a week or so ago, and I having generally been wearing fleece when biking to work, at least in the morning, but yesterday evening was quite nippy. I was at a meeting about the upcoming street party, and most people had to keep going back inside to get more layers on!
The kids seem to be adjusting fairly well to school. It was probably a wise idea to keep drilling them a bit on math and a bit of French here and there. I wonder about putting my son in STEM camp next summer. I'll have to look into it more seriously next spring.
Work has been quite overwhelming, though I didn't have it as bad as the two guys that were laying out the transportation plan in In Design. They stayed past midnight. I had a fair bit of work (and perhaps next week will be worse for me), which in turn made it hard for me to focus on finishing the last edits for the reading. It is official now -- it will be Tues. Sept. 19 at Red Sandcastle! Some details here, and I'll post separately about this. I also missed the deadline to get something in for Sing-for-Your-Supper, though to be fair, some of the delay was due to not having a particularly good ending for my skit about college mascots.
News wasn't all bad, however. It appears that, while almost 1/3 of Americans were involved in the Equifax data theft, we weren't impacted. (This is going to be a huge fiasco and will be so painful for those impacted -- I just wish the federal government was functioning properly so some kind of response could be managed, like reissuing SINs en masse, but that won't happen in today's climate.) Probably we lucked out because we haven't tried to buy a house in the U.S. in over 10 years, and also I had some kind of credit watch on my file, which made it hard to get credit cards issued in my name. Also, there was another big data theft recently (I think just emails and passwords), and I avoided that one. Though I did have my credit card skimmed recently, so a new one had to be reissued and it was enough of a pain, but I didn't have to rebuild my life. Actually, some people are saying the move to biometrics is deeply misguided, since if it gets hacked and/or the data stolen, then you will never be able to recover.
Also, I made a lot of progress on the quilt, and in fact the top is finished! Or rather I still need to put on a border and press the quilt, but it will be done after that. I might be done as soon as Monday/Tuesday, though I do need to spend more time on my writing. I did reach out to someone in Etobicoke who finishes quilts, and I probably can drop it off next weekend. So exciting! I haven't decided if I will start right in on the one for my son (or take a long break). Overall, I think it will go faster, but some of the squares will need to be turned, so there is actually a fair bit of seam ripping involved, and it won't be quite as fast as I had hoped. The quilt is really a bit too large to display in one piece, so I "stitched" together two photos and, even then, the last corner square (of snowmen) got cut off.
This is an approximation of what it will look like with the border attached. I've read up on mitred corners and will try that for the next quilt. I would just prefer to get this one done at this point.
Overall, it came together well, though there are always some quirky details when pieces are joined up. Here is a deer looking like something out of the Magical Mystery Tour.
And here are some creepy hands reaching out of the quilt, maybe a Stephen King homage?
Thinking ahead to fall projects, I will defer some of them to next year, but others I will start working on soon. I should trim up the bushes and probably reseed the grass, since it is looking terrible. I should also try to schedule an appointment with the roofers, though I have been waiting on my tax refund (it seems very late this year!). I probably will hold off until next year on sanding and restaining the bottom deck and hitting the fence with some anti-mildew stain. I haven't decided about replacing a few parts of the fence where the wood has split. I really ought to do it this year, but I am feeling lazy (certainly this weekend). Perhaps in the end I will get it done before it gets really cold.
I have to run now, but I'll post more details about the reading later today.
The kids seem to be adjusting fairly well to school. It was probably a wise idea to keep drilling them a bit on math and a bit of French here and there. I wonder about putting my son in STEM camp next summer. I'll have to look into it more seriously next spring.
Work has been quite overwhelming, though I didn't have it as bad as the two guys that were laying out the transportation plan in In Design. They stayed past midnight. I had a fair bit of work (and perhaps next week will be worse for me), which in turn made it hard for me to focus on finishing the last edits for the reading. It is official now -- it will be Tues. Sept. 19 at Red Sandcastle! Some details here, and I'll post separately about this. I also missed the deadline to get something in for Sing-for-Your-Supper, though to be fair, some of the delay was due to not having a particularly good ending for my skit about college mascots.
News wasn't all bad, however. It appears that, while almost 1/3 of Americans were involved in the Equifax data theft, we weren't impacted. (This is going to be a huge fiasco and will be so painful for those impacted -- I just wish the federal government was functioning properly so some kind of response could be managed, like reissuing SINs en masse, but that won't happen in today's climate.) Probably we lucked out because we haven't tried to buy a house in the U.S. in over 10 years, and also I had some kind of credit watch on my file, which made it hard to get credit cards issued in my name. Also, there was another big data theft recently (I think just emails and passwords), and I avoided that one. Though I did have my credit card skimmed recently, so a new one had to be reissued and it was enough of a pain, but I didn't have to rebuild my life. Actually, some people are saying the move to biometrics is deeply misguided, since if it gets hacked and/or the data stolen, then you will never be able to recover.
Also, I made a lot of progress on the quilt, and in fact the top is finished! Or rather I still need to put on a border and press the quilt, but it will be done after that. I might be done as soon as Monday/Tuesday, though I do need to spend more time on my writing. I did reach out to someone in Etobicoke who finishes quilts, and I probably can drop it off next weekend. So exciting! I haven't decided if I will start right in on the one for my son (or take a long break). Overall, I think it will go faster, but some of the squares will need to be turned, so there is actually a fair bit of seam ripping involved, and it won't be quite as fast as I had hoped. The quilt is really a bit too large to display in one piece, so I "stitched" together two photos and, even then, the last corner square (of snowmen) got cut off.
This is an approximation of what it will look like with the border attached. I've read up on mitred corners and will try that for the next quilt. I would just prefer to get this one done at this point.
Overall, it came together well, though there are always some quirky details when pieces are joined up. Here is a deer looking like something out of the Magical Mystery Tour.
And here are some creepy hands reaching out of the quilt, maybe a Stephen King homage?
Thinking ahead to fall projects, I will defer some of them to next year, but others I will start working on soon. I should trim up the bushes and probably reseed the grass, since it is looking terrible. I should also try to schedule an appointment with the roofers, though I have been waiting on my tax refund (it seems very late this year!). I probably will hold off until next year on sanding and restaining the bottom deck and hitting the fence with some anti-mildew stain. I haven't decided about replacing a few parts of the fence where the wood has split. I really ought to do it this year, but I am feeling lazy (certainly this weekend). Perhaps in the end I will get it done before it gets really cold.
I have to run now, but I'll post more details about the reading later today.
Monday, September 4, 2017
Long weekend - Day 3
I should have mentioned that apparently there was an Air show going on over Toronto. It was far more noticeable yesterday, but there were still a few noisy fly-bys this afternoon. I spent a reasonable amount of time outside, reading all these various policy papers. (It was good that I got that fresh air, since it is raining now.) Now I just need to type up my notes. I didn't get very far on the creative writing, but I guess there is still the evening, though I also promised I would do some cooking for tomorrow's meal.
I'm still kind of annoyed over missing out on the Rushdie reading (and I am definitely not standing in line to see if I can squeak in), but I did order a signed copy of one of his books, and I might order one more. I think that will basically make up for missing out.
Now back to work (and then later to cooking).
I'm still kind of annoyed over missing out on the Rushdie reading (and I am definitely not standing in line to see if I can squeak in), but I did order a signed copy of one of his books, and I might order one more. I think that will basically make up for missing out.
Now back to work (and then later to cooking).
Long weekend - Day 2
Considering this ended up being a very long day indeed, I'll keep it fairly brief.
I finally was able to access this data I had requested months back, so I downloaded it and started to process it. I was nearly done when I found there was some error in the 4th file, so I will either have to download again or find out exactly where the errors are. It's probably about the same amount of time either way. As I got pretty deep into this, I actually skipped lunch.
Since I wanted to squeeze in a trip to the gym (and getting a few groceries), I decided to just press on. I kept the trip to the gym on the short side, but I did make it, so I have completely backslid (it is always so easy to come up with excuses not to go).
I got back just before 5 and drew up some math problems for the kids (I've been trying to make sure they are ready to go back to school on Tues.). I also read a few pages of French to my daughter but had to cut that short.
My wife and I then went out to see the Depeche Mode concert at the ACC. We had sort of wanted to avoid the opening act (Warpaint) but in the end we caught the whole act. Maybe it was just as well, since they had the lights completely down, and it was very hard finding one's seat in the dark. While Warpaint's music is pretty decent (somewhat complex), I didn't care much for the lyrics or the vocals, so it was a relief when they wrapped up.
Depeche Mode put on a good show, though their huge speakers blocked the video screen(!) and they drew very heavily on the new album Spirit, which I haven't listened to at all. The setlist is already up. They played 5 songs off of Spirit. Somewhat surprisingly (since they want to show that they still are writing new music), they only played 2 off of Sounds of the Universe and only one off of Playing the Angel and nothing off of Delta Machine. I really liked "Wrong," but wasn't blown away by "Corrupt." I would definitely have substituted for another song or two off of Playing the Angel, such as "John the Revelator" or "Suffer Well." My wife was a bit disappointed that they hadn't played "Strange Love" or "Personal Jesus." We assumed that they were going to wrap up after the Bowie "Heroes" cover, but they went on to finish with "I Feel You" and "Personal Jesus." (So almost a whole second set rather than an encore.) It was really notable how much more energy there was in the stadium when they played the older material, so they might have drawn a bit more on it or done some medleys to make sure that the hits were covered.
Anyway, I am pretty wiped out now. Tomorrow, I somehow have to find the time to read through some reports for work, and try to clean up that data set I mentioned. Plus edit three short plays and perhaps write another one. And if I have any energy after that, perhaps work more on the quilt and cook dinner. So not exactly a restful Labour Day!
I finally was able to access this data I had requested months back, so I downloaded it and started to process it. I was nearly done when I found there was some error in the 4th file, so I will either have to download again or find out exactly where the errors are. It's probably about the same amount of time either way. As I got pretty deep into this, I actually skipped lunch.
Since I wanted to squeeze in a trip to the gym (and getting a few groceries), I decided to just press on. I kept the trip to the gym on the short side, but I did make it, so I have completely backslid (it is always so easy to come up with excuses not to go).
I got back just before 5 and drew up some math problems for the kids (I've been trying to make sure they are ready to go back to school on Tues.). I also read a few pages of French to my daughter but had to cut that short.
My wife and I then went out to see the Depeche Mode concert at the ACC. We had sort of wanted to avoid the opening act (Warpaint) but in the end we caught the whole act. Maybe it was just as well, since they had the lights completely down, and it was very hard finding one's seat in the dark. While Warpaint's music is pretty decent (somewhat complex), I didn't care much for the lyrics or the vocals, so it was a relief when they wrapped up.
Depeche Mode put on a good show, though their huge speakers blocked the video screen(!) and they drew very heavily on the new album Spirit, which I haven't listened to at all. The setlist is already up. They played 5 songs off of Spirit. Somewhat surprisingly (since they want to show that they still are writing new music), they only played 2 off of Sounds of the Universe and only one off of Playing the Angel and nothing off of Delta Machine. I really liked "Wrong," but wasn't blown away by "Corrupt." I would definitely have substituted for another song or two off of Playing the Angel, such as "John the Revelator" or "Suffer Well." My wife was a bit disappointed that they hadn't played "Strange Love" or "Personal Jesus." We assumed that they were going to wrap up after the Bowie "Heroes" cover, but they went on to finish with "I Feel You" and "Personal Jesus." (So almost a whole second set rather than an encore.) It was really notable how much more energy there was in the stadium when they played the older material, so they might have drawn a bit more on it or done some medleys to make sure that the hits were covered.
Anyway, I am pretty wiped out now. Tomorrow, I somehow have to find the time to read through some reports for work, and try to clean up that data set I mentioned. Plus edit three short plays and perhaps write another one. And if I have any energy after that, perhaps work more on the quilt and cook dinner. So not exactly a restful Labour Day!
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Long weekend - Day 1
It's odd how the first day of September brought a real chill in the air, and that has lasted through today. A short while back, I had looked at the weather forecast, and it was for several days of nice weather, but now it is saying it is fairly likely it will rain this evening and Sunday. Most of next week threatens a bit of rain, which might make riding my bike a real problem. I guess on the upside, I will get back to reading, whereas I did almost no reading last week (after we got back from Ottawa), so I have fallen behind.
This morning I got the groceries for the week, and actually it was fortunate my son came along to carry some bags back home. Then I went to the library. I was quite disappointed that none of my holds came in, though I picked up a few CDs, so it wasn't a completely wasted trip. However, as soon as I checked my account (when I got home) it turned out that 2 of my hold items showed up right after I left! I may be able to pick them up on the way back from swimming.
I don't feel like doing a lot more chores today, though I think I will switch out the shower curtain and clean it. Then I need to take my somewhat reluctant daughter swimming. There is a small chance I'd go to the gym later on, but it is more likely I will do that Sunday, just trying to avoid a rainy spell.
I do plan on doing more quilting today. I have sewn the last of the strips together into long strips. I've generally been quite fortunate in how it came together, only needing to unpick one seam and sew it again. Well, on this last row, I had to unpick a second seam. All things considered, that's not bad, and generally the long strips match up quite well (knock wood). I have sewn 11 together (in this picture you can see the progress through 10).
Since there are only 17 rows, plus a border, I am quite close, and I will definitely be done at some point in September. It's hard to say if it really is worth the effort, but it is pretty and it should be warm when completed.
I have some reading to do for work over the weekend, along with chasing some data, and I have a fair bit of creative writing to work on, but that can definitely wait until tomorrow. Today already feels like a fairly busy day, so I had been get a move on.
This morning I got the groceries for the week, and actually it was fortunate my son came along to carry some bags back home. Then I went to the library. I was quite disappointed that none of my holds came in, though I picked up a few CDs, so it wasn't a completely wasted trip. However, as soon as I checked my account (when I got home) it turned out that 2 of my hold items showed up right after I left! I may be able to pick them up on the way back from swimming.
I don't feel like doing a lot more chores today, though I think I will switch out the shower curtain and clean it. Then I need to take my somewhat reluctant daughter swimming. There is a small chance I'd go to the gym later on, but it is more likely I will do that Sunday, just trying to avoid a rainy spell.
I do plan on doing more quilting today. I have sewn the last of the strips together into long strips. I've generally been quite fortunate in how it came together, only needing to unpick one seam and sew it again. Well, on this last row, I had to unpick a second seam. All things considered, that's not bad, and generally the long strips match up quite well (knock wood). I have sewn 11 together (in this picture you can see the progress through 10).
Since there are only 17 rows, plus a border, I am quite close, and I will definitely be done at some point in September. It's hard to say if it really is worth the effort, but it is pretty and it should be warm when completed.
I have some reading to do for work over the weekend, along with chasing some data, and I have a fair bit of creative writing to work on, but that can definitely wait until tomorrow. Today already feels like a fairly busy day, so I had been get a move on.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Left my eye off the ball
I'm pretty frustrated with myself. I really needed to put a note into my Outlook calendar to try to order tickets to the Salman Rushdie reading at the Toronto Public Library on Sept 21. The date to try to request tickets was yesterday, but I simply didn't remember until I got home after work (and after swimming), and naturally they were all gone by then. Now on the day of the event you can go stand in line to see if you can get in, but I think this is an event where there will be no seats left. It's too bad, as I've heard that his new book is actually quite good, and I might have bought it and stood in line to get in autographed. He's actually a good reader as well (I heard him read in Chicago once), and I'm kind of peeved that I have missed out. I guess I will see if he adds any other events around the city that week, but that seems somewhat unlikely.
Events have come together so I can't go to the preview of Coal Mine's The Aliens, but I think in this case there is a pretty good chance I can get rush tickets. In fact, it might actually get easier later in the run, as people realize how long the show is... I'm not sure how hard it will be to get rush tickets to Soulpepper's Waiting for Godot, but I think I'll still give it a shot in a couple of weeks.
It's actually sort of odd that I have more than a few tickets for events scheduled for next Feb. and March, but I don't have a lot pinned down in between (aside from a handful of TSO dates). I suppose I did order a 3-show subscription to Factory this season, but I haven't gotten around to booking anything else at Soulpepper. I'm sure there will be quite a bit to fill up my calendar, but it may all end up being a bit last-minute at this point.
I guess this isn't leaving my eye off the ball, but I thought fairly seriously about going to see The Breathing Hole at Stratford, but the timing just didn't work out (to combine with my trip to see School for Scandal and The Changeling). The reviews are finally in, and they have been quite positive (with some reservations about the ending). But I just don't have the time or budget to go before it closes. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might make a transfer to Toronto later this season, so I'll keep my eyes open for that and I'll certainly note it here.
Events have come together so I can't go to the preview of Coal Mine's The Aliens, but I think in this case there is a pretty good chance I can get rush tickets. In fact, it might actually get easier later in the run, as people realize how long the show is... I'm not sure how hard it will be to get rush tickets to Soulpepper's Waiting for Godot, but I think I'll still give it a shot in a couple of weeks.
It's actually sort of odd that I have more than a few tickets for events scheduled for next Feb. and March, but I don't have a lot pinned down in between (aside from a handful of TSO dates). I suppose I did order a 3-show subscription to Factory this season, but I haven't gotten around to booking anything else at Soulpepper. I'm sure there will be quite a bit to fill up my calendar, but it may all end up being a bit last-minute at this point.
I guess this isn't leaving my eye off the ball, but I thought fairly seriously about going to see The Breathing Hole at Stratford, but the timing just didn't work out (to combine with my trip to see School for Scandal and The Changeling). The reviews are finally in, and they have been quite positive (with some reservations about the ending). But I just don't have the time or budget to go before it closes. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might make a transfer to Toronto later this season, so I'll keep my eyes open for that and I'll certainly note it here.
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