While it is incredibly rare, I actually find myself in agreement with Trump and his administration that China has crossed the line with its treatment of Hong Kong and that all special privileges that Hong Kong enjoyed should be terminated. It looks like Canada and other western countries will largely follow on this specific policy, though Canada is still trying (vainly I am sure) to deal with the Canadians that China is holding hostage. It's probably time to admit that our relationship with China is tatted beyond repair (due to the Meng Wanzhou affair). While it will be extremely difficult to unpack the ways in which Chinese goods are traded in North America, it probably is in fact going to have to happen at some point, as Trump has managed to reignite the Cold War but with a much more powerful adversary in China and is essentially dragging Canada along. (Indeed, Meng Wanzhou wouldn't be facing extradition to the US if Trump wasn't trying to make a point -- incredibly he even dragged his idiotic attempts to derail the nuclear deal with Iran into this dispute.) As I said, it is pretty galling to agree with Trump on anything, but this time he is making sense. Now the problem is that this will ultimate hurt Hong Kongers far more than China itself, but there are no great options and there has been too much appeasement of China in general. I certainly expect over the next few years there will be a major exodus of people from Hong Kong, either to Taiwan, the UK (now that Boris Johnson is supposedly opening the floodgates!), Canada or potentially to the US, depending on what happens to immigration reform (probably after Trump is finally dragged out of office).
I'm less convinced he is taking exactly the right line against Huawei, as that is driven mostly by economic considerations in trying to advance US firms rather than purely security concerns. That said, the idea that Huawei wouldn't assist the Chinese government to spy on users of its system seems hopelessly naive these days, when the Chinese government is clearly intent on extending its reach and influence in basically every direction. So I am not shedding any tears over Huawei getting its wings clipped.
Friday, May 29, 2020
Monday, May 25, 2020
Late May Updates
As always, far too much has been going on, and I am too far behind on too many other things to really sit down and keep the blog up to date. The weather was quite glorious, especially Sat. I got in a relatively long bike ride on Sat. I swung through Withrow Park, and there were lots of people out (most of whom didn't have masks on, though it is a large park and people were doing better on the distancing front than at Trinity-Bellwoods to be sure). I did have to get back by the early afternoon to supervise a guy who had come over to trim the tree in our backyard. I had been extremely worried about how the tree limbs were interwoven with a lot of cables going to the house (and since these weren't electrical wires per se, it was my problem and not the city's...). He cleaned that out a bit and did a bit more pruning in a few places. I think in the end the job only took 90+ minutes, rather than 2-3 hours. I still had time to run over to the grocery store afterwards, and it was surprisingly empty. I was able to breeze right in.
On Sunday, I had expected it to rain in the afternoon, but somehow the rain passed us by, and it probably won't rain until Thurs. That meant that I actually needed to water some of the plants in the yard after all. I was able to get a bit of work done and some reading outside, though I was trying to finish up Aristophanes's The Clouds (rather than tackling Camus's The Plague). I realize times change and all, but The Clouds is incredibly dreary stuff. There is no conceivable circumstance I can imagine actually going to watch a production of this. My impression is that The Birds still holds up and perhaps The Frogs. While the sexual politics of Lysistrata are deeply outdated, this might still be watchable in the right hands. Still, as a general rule drama and tragedy seems to transfer better than comedy.
I've been meaning to get back to these library books, and the time is certainly creeping up on me! We are now entering the phase where library books can be returned (though I believe there is still some time before the due dates (and fines) will restart). The library up the road Pape/Danforth will be open (for returns only) in the morning and then most of (all?) the other libraries will accept returns starting June 1. About a week after that, they are starting to provide pick-up service, so the hold system is starting back up again, though it isn't clear if you will have to schedule an appointment, as I can imagine quite a few people (particularly in this neighbourhood) will all want to go at once. While I have been going a bit over the top with all the e-books (finding that probably close to 80% of the fiction I own has an e-book equivalent, though it is much, much lower and probably not even 5% of the non-fiction on my shelves), I think I will start to pivot back to physical books. That said, I did take advantage of the sale on e-books at Brick Books (still running for another week or so) and picked up three books that aren't in the library system. No question my next major task (in addition to cleaning up the basement), will be to get through a bunch of reviews and post them up here before July 1. (I haven't really decided but right now I am leaning against re-upping for the Canada Reads book challenge.)
While the good weather (and the fact I didn't need to line up to get into the grocery store) did help my mood, I'm still very frustrated by the general situation and the fact that the things I really like about urban life are all off-limits. (That said, while theatre and concerts are all definitely off-limits, I suspect museums will be able to reopen, and I think there is a reasonable chance that the AGO will succeed in hosting the Picasso exhibit in the fall after all.) I'm still dreading transit, and will try to bike everywhere for as long as possible. Maybe this is the winter I get more serious about the winter biking (and then just say I will work from home on days where there is ice or slush on the roads). People are definitely tired of quarantine-like conditions, and we didn't have it nearly as bad as Italy or Spain. The problem is that people get complacent and they get careless and sloppy (especially in the parks this weekend!), and then the infections creep back up again. (On our block, a lot of people are hanging out in front yards, 1.5-2 meters apart, just chatting and being social, as this has always been a particularly social street, interestingly enough.) No question the testing needs to be rolled out on a much, much wider scale for this to work -- and for us to get some semblance of our lives back. I don't have anything else profound to add at the moment.
On Sunday, I had expected it to rain in the afternoon, but somehow the rain passed us by, and it probably won't rain until Thurs. That meant that I actually needed to water some of the plants in the yard after all. I was able to get a bit of work done and some reading outside, though I was trying to finish up Aristophanes's The Clouds (rather than tackling Camus's The Plague). I realize times change and all, but The Clouds is incredibly dreary stuff. There is no conceivable circumstance I can imagine actually going to watch a production of this. My impression is that The Birds still holds up and perhaps The Frogs. While the sexual politics of Lysistrata are deeply outdated, this might still be watchable in the right hands. Still, as a general rule drama and tragedy seems to transfer better than comedy.
I've been meaning to get back to these library books, and the time is certainly creeping up on me! We are now entering the phase where library books can be returned (though I believe there is still some time before the due dates (and fines) will restart). The library up the road Pape/Danforth will be open (for returns only) in the morning and then most of (all?) the other libraries will accept returns starting June 1. About a week after that, they are starting to provide pick-up service, so the hold system is starting back up again, though it isn't clear if you will have to schedule an appointment, as I can imagine quite a few people (particularly in this neighbourhood) will all want to go at once. While I have been going a bit over the top with all the e-books (finding that probably close to 80% of the fiction I own has an e-book equivalent, though it is much, much lower and probably not even 5% of the non-fiction on my shelves), I think I will start to pivot back to physical books. That said, I did take advantage of the sale on e-books at Brick Books (still running for another week or so) and picked up three books that aren't in the library system. No question my next major task (in addition to cleaning up the basement), will be to get through a bunch of reviews and post them up here before July 1. (I haven't really decided but right now I am leaning against re-upping for the Canada Reads book challenge.)
While the good weather (and the fact I didn't need to line up to get into the grocery store) did help my mood, I'm still very frustrated by the general situation and the fact that the things I really like about urban life are all off-limits. (That said, while theatre and concerts are all definitely off-limits, I suspect museums will be able to reopen, and I think there is a reasonable chance that the AGO will succeed in hosting the Picasso exhibit in the fall after all.) I'm still dreading transit, and will try to bike everywhere for as long as possible. Maybe this is the winter I get more serious about the winter biking (and then just say I will work from home on days where there is ice or slush on the roads). People are definitely tired of quarantine-like conditions, and we didn't have it nearly as bad as Italy or Spain. The problem is that people get complacent and they get careless and sloppy (especially in the parks this weekend!), and then the infections creep back up again. (On our block, a lot of people are hanging out in front yards, 1.5-2 meters apart, just chatting and being social, as this has always been a particularly social street, interestingly enough.) No question the testing needs to be rolled out on a much, much wider scale for this to work -- and for us to get some semblance of our lives back. I don't have anything else profound to add at the moment.
Monday, May 18, 2020
May on-line update
For
anyone who missed it and is curious, Plays in the House will now be up for
4 days in general, which should mean through Tuesday evening (tomorrow) to see Beckett's
Happy Days. Link is here. In general, I'm the wrong audience for Plays in the House Jr., which will be Sundays at 2 and even my son has kind of aged out of theatre for young people. May 31 they are doing a play called Space Girl, which might be quirky enough that I'll tune in.
I must admit, I have stopped
trying to follow the Show Must Go Online live once I realized this would
be archived permanently (as far as I know, as there are no rights
issues with Shakespeare!). They are mixing it
up a bit with a Shakespeare/Star Wars mash up and some other things, and
for sure I will watch these, but not right now.
I have not been up on what the UK's National Theatre is doing (usually just up for a week), but I'll take a peek in later. It does look like this week (Thurs) they will be doing Williams' Streetcar Named Desire and that will be up for a week. I wasn't crazy about the one that Soulpepper did, but I'll see if I can check this out, and maybe have my son watch it if he isn't totally bogged down in homework.
The Globe Theatre is generally running their productions on YouTube for about two weeks, though Macbeth has an extended run for UK school children to watch it. I never did manage to take my son to see Macbeth, so I will encourage him to watch that. Their next production is A Winter's Tale. If I'm not misremembering, I think this was going to be done at UT (though I had passed up a chance to see Theatre in the Ruff doing it when I found they had made some (to be) inexcusable edits to the play) right before the pandemic hit. In fact, maybe if I had gone opening weekend, I could have still squeezed it in. Anyway, I'll probably get around to watching the Globe Theatre do it. Third time's a charm, I guess.
In terms of local actors, this is the current listing of virtual events around the GTHA. I think there is a reading of Kat Sandler's Punch Up, but I don't see it here, so I may need to do a bit more digging to find that, and I'll try to circle back around and update the listing. That's pretty much it for the moment. Every day feels just a bit more monotonous...
In terms of local actors, this is the current listing of virtual events around the GTHA. I think there is a reading of Kat Sandler's Punch Up, but I don't see it here, so I may need to do a bit more digging to find that, and I'll try to circle back around and update the listing. That's pretty much it for the moment. Every day feels just a bit more monotonous...
Friday, May 15, 2020
May On-line Cultural Offerings
This is going to be fairly sporadic and not a comprehensive list.
I think I forgot to list the House on-line event that took the place of their official opening. It was pretty interesting.
I'm been checking out a few of the on-line offerings from Stars in the House. I'm actually quite interested in their reading of Beckett's Happy Days featuring Tony Shaloub and Brooke Adams, which is happening Sat. at 2 pm. Happy Days is one of the only major Beckett plays I haven't seen. I was hoping to see a reading directed by Mac Fyfe that was supposed to be done over at the Videocab digs. Maybe that will happen next year, along with the Great War, which also had to be scrapped.
I know that Aga Khan has started some virtual tours of their current exhibits. Some of them are archived here. There appears be a special virtual tour set up for Toronto Star readers that livestreams today at 1 pm. I probably will not be able to attend this (as I will be working), but perhaps it will be recorded and archived.
MOCA is slowly ramping up its on-line programming as well. The top few videos here are walk-throughs of their current exhibitions, though it doesn't look like they got around to the Sarah Sze exhibit that supposedly closed a couple of days ago. Still kind of kicking myself for not getting out there in time for that, though if they had held out for one more weekend, instead of closing the same day as the AGO, I would have made it. There is still a slim chance that the Mirvishes will loan it for a month or two after the crisis restrictions are lifted, so here's hoping.
That's all I really have time to list right now, but I'll either circle back and fill in more events or I'll start a new page for late May or early June events.
I think I forgot to list the House on-line event that took the place of their official opening. It was pretty interesting.
I'm been checking out a few of the on-line offerings from Stars in the House. I'm actually quite interested in their reading of Beckett's Happy Days featuring Tony Shaloub and Brooke Adams, which is happening Sat. at 2 pm. Happy Days is one of the only major Beckett plays I haven't seen. I was hoping to see a reading directed by Mac Fyfe that was supposed to be done over at the Videocab digs. Maybe that will happen next year, along with the Great War, which also had to be scrapped.
I know that Aga Khan has started some virtual tours of their current exhibits. Some of them are archived here. There appears be a special virtual tour set up for Toronto Star readers that livestreams today at 1 pm. I probably will not be able to attend this (as I will be working), but perhaps it will be recorded and archived.
MOCA is slowly ramping up its on-line programming as well. The top few videos here are walk-throughs of their current exhibitions, though it doesn't look like they got around to the Sarah Sze exhibit that supposedly closed a couple of days ago. Still kind of kicking myself for not getting out there in time for that, though if they had held out for one more weekend, instead of closing the same day as the AGO, I would have made it. There is still a slim chance that the Mirvishes will loan it for a month or two after the crisis restrictions are lifted, so here's hoping.
That's all I really have time to list right now, but I'll either circle back and fill in more events or I'll start a new page for late May or early June events.
Thursday, May 14, 2020
One Block Lifted
No point in pretending that these past few weeks have not been very difficult. This weekend's weather wasn't great (in fact I had to ride my bike through the hail, but I was determined to get in at least some exercise!). It's still quite chilly out, considering it's the middle of May. It should probably warm up this weekend, but for the moment I'm having to bundle up in the house, particularly when sitting in the back room.
I've generally been ok, but not great about doing my morning exercises (crunches and push-ups), but I missed a couple of days because I was up late and then slept in pretty late and didn't have the time to do it before I had to start working. I've always had a running problem with insomnia, but it is much worse in this timeless time when there is so little to look forward to. But today was a bit better. I did squeeze in my exercises in the morning, and I made sure to change into clean clothes. It's still chilly but warming up a bit, and I went out for a walk after work with my son just to get some fresh air. It looks like it should warm up more by the weekend, though it might rain quite a bit over the next week.
Anyway, I generally can get a fair bit done work-wise from 8 to 7 and am only slightly worse about checking the internet. (It's probably not the worst thing in terms of my productivity that Slate and the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times have all gotten more serious about paywalls. I'm only willing to subscribe to the Toronto Star and I also made a donation to the Guardian UK, so basically that is where I get my news nowadays.) But there are always a few tasks that I push off because they are just too much of a drag, and I can always find something more interesting to do. In one case, I pushed off reviewing a couple hundred pages of documents for well over a month. I finally got the word that this had to be wrapped up, and I stayed up quite late to finally get through it.
So that is one fairly significant mental block that has been lifted, and that also meant I felt a bit better mentally today (though still dog-tired). I have one more administrative task that I would prefer to avoid, but this one has to be wrapped up by the end of the week, so it won't be something that hangs over my head, getting heavier every week.* I think for the next couple of months, most of my main work tasks should be a bit more up my alley, so I suppose that is something to be looking forward to. Here's hoping anyway.
* I did manage to get this out the door as well, though it wasn't until about 7 pm. Still one less thing to be fretting about. I have a lot still on my plate, but most of it is intellectually interesting, so that helps a great deal, no question.
I've generally been ok, but not great about doing my morning exercises (crunches and push-ups), but I missed a couple of days because I was up late and then slept in pretty late and didn't have the time to do it before I had to start working. I've always had a running problem with insomnia, but it is much worse in this timeless time when there is so little to look forward to. But today was a bit better. I did squeeze in my exercises in the morning, and I made sure to change into clean clothes. It's still chilly but warming up a bit, and I went out for a walk after work with my son just to get some fresh air. It looks like it should warm up more by the weekend, though it might rain quite a bit over the next week.
Anyway, I generally can get a fair bit done work-wise from 8 to 7 and am only slightly worse about checking the internet. (It's probably not the worst thing in terms of my productivity that Slate and the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times have all gotten more serious about paywalls. I'm only willing to subscribe to the Toronto Star and I also made a donation to the Guardian UK, so basically that is where I get my news nowadays.) But there are always a few tasks that I push off because they are just too much of a drag, and I can always find something more interesting to do. In one case, I pushed off reviewing a couple hundred pages of documents for well over a month. I finally got the word that this had to be wrapped up, and I stayed up quite late to finally get through it.
So that is one fairly significant mental block that has been lifted, and that also meant I felt a bit better mentally today (though still dog-tired). I have one more administrative task that I would prefer to avoid, but this one has to be wrapped up by the end of the week, so it won't be something that hangs over my head, getting heavier every week.* I think for the next couple of months, most of my main work tasks should be a bit more up my alley, so I suppose that is something to be looking forward to. Here's hoping anyway.
* I did manage to get this out the door as well, though it wasn't until about 7 pm. Still one less thing to be fretting about. I have a lot still on my plate, but most of it is intellectually interesting, so that helps a great deal, no question.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Free e-Books, pt 2 (Cancon warning)
I've definitely written from time to time about Project Gutenberg, which has an impressive array of books in the public domain. Generally, the US has the most restrictive copyright laws across the globe, so if something is available at the main Project Gutenberg site, it is generally fine everywhere else. Then there are spin-off variants, such as Project Gutenberg Australia, which has somewhat relaxed rules and more books available obviously.
I was quite surprised to stumble across a Canadian version of Project Gutenberg called Fadedpage. While Canadian authors are the focus of the website, there are other authors (such as Edith Wharton or Nathaniel West) where they are able to post more titles than Project Gutenberg due to different (and somewhat looser) Canadian copyright laws. I'm certainly not a copyright lawyer, and I only am vaguely aware of the impact of the revised NAFTA trade agreement on Canadian laws. Supposedly there will be harmonization of Canadian copyright (meaning that it will become more restrictive than it has been in the past), though on the positive side for consumers, supposedly the de minimis threshold (which sets the level at which duty and taxes can be leveled) will be increased from $20 (basically the lowest in the world!) to $150. Now this was all supposed to happen when the federal government adopted the revised NAFTA deal (back in early April), though it is possible that only sets the framework for a whole host of other legislative changes that are supposed to take place between now and June.* Specifically in terms of copyright, generally something that had passed out of copyright is not yanked back under it (it is grandfathered to stay in the public domain), though that specifically did not happen in the U.S. So I can't really say what the impact will be on a site like Fadedpage. I only know that they are offering a valuable service to Canadians. Given that there are still quite a few weird regional restrictions that favour Americans over Canadians, it is only fair that Canadians have a few sites that are better for them, like this one and the Naxos Classical and Jazz websites, which aren't allowed to operate if your IP address is from the States.
* I had been planning on ordering a Mosaic box set of Paul Desmond playing several live sets in Toronto (perhaps it is ironic that this has to be ordered from a US-based company...). In the past I would definitely have had it shipped to family in the States and eventually picked it up, but it is unlikely I will be travelling to the States at any point in 2020. Also, the gap between domestic and international shipping is narrowing (due to domestic shipping increasing in cost). With the exchange rate, the set will still cost more than $150 Can, but presumably the duty is only applied to the amount above the de minimis. So it may be to my advantage to hold off another month or so, just to see what actually happens with the de minimis and then place my order.
I was quite surprised to stumble across a Canadian version of Project Gutenberg called Fadedpage. While Canadian authors are the focus of the website, there are other authors (such as Edith Wharton or Nathaniel West) where they are able to post more titles than Project Gutenberg due to different (and somewhat looser) Canadian copyright laws. I'm certainly not a copyright lawyer, and I only am vaguely aware of the impact of the revised NAFTA trade agreement on Canadian laws. Supposedly there will be harmonization of Canadian copyright (meaning that it will become more restrictive than it has been in the past), though on the positive side for consumers, supposedly the de minimis threshold (which sets the level at which duty and taxes can be leveled) will be increased from $20 (basically the lowest in the world!) to $150. Now this was all supposed to happen when the federal government adopted the revised NAFTA deal (back in early April), though it is possible that only sets the framework for a whole host of other legislative changes that are supposed to take place between now and June.* Specifically in terms of copyright, generally something that had passed out of copyright is not yanked back under it (it is grandfathered to stay in the public domain), though that specifically did not happen in the U.S. So I can't really say what the impact will be on a site like Fadedpage. I only know that they are offering a valuable service to Canadians. Given that there are still quite a few weird regional restrictions that favour Americans over Canadians, it is only fair that Canadians have a few sites that are better for them, like this one and the Naxos Classical and Jazz websites, which aren't allowed to operate if your IP address is from the States.
* I had been planning on ordering a Mosaic box set of Paul Desmond playing several live sets in Toronto (perhaps it is ironic that this has to be ordered from a US-based company...). In the past I would definitely have had it shipped to family in the States and eventually picked it up, but it is unlikely I will be travelling to the States at any point in 2020. Also, the gap between domestic and international shipping is narrowing (due to domestic shipping increasing in cost). With the exchange rate, the set will still cost more than $150 Can, but presumably the duty is only applied to the amount above the de minimis. So it may be to my advantage to hold off another month or so, just to see what actually happens with the de minimis and then place my order.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
Free e-Books
I have no idea how long this promotion will last, but Springer is making a large number of its older science titles available for free download. I've picked a particularly interesting one (for my tastes at any rate), Cosmology for the Curious. They had quite a few other advanced physics books, along with some data management books, books on programming and a smattering of other titles. My impression is that the basic programming books and the core undergraduate science texts are not free. I spent a little time looking at the social science offerings, and the vast majority are not free. I don't really know if this is Covid related, and I also don't know how long it will last, but if interested, take some time to poke around on their main site.
Just taking a quick look at the download statistics of the various titles, I think there must have been a previous period where the social science titles were available for free (a jubilee month), but I apparently missed out on that, just like I missed out on the Brick Book sale. Too bad. Well, perhaps another time, though I certainly do not need more books to hang onto and feel bad about not reading...
Just taking a quick look at the download statistics of the various titles, I think there must have been a previous period where the social science titles were available for free (a jubilee month), but I apparently missed out on that, just like I missed out on the Brick Book sale. Too bad. Well, perhaps another time, though I certainly do not need more books to hang onto and feel bad about not reading...
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Moderately Productive Weekend
This wasn't quite as productive a weekend as a few weeks ago, when I was getting through all my taxes. However, I did manage to host a live reading of my plays, though the Livestream on Youtube failed through a very frustrating set of circumstance, which I will detail in a different post. I haven't quite finished cutting the video together, but I'll probably wrap that up shortly.
Today I did unwind a bit and read outdoors, then I did a fair bit of weeding in the front yard. I did not get around to planting any seeds, but I'll probably do that later in the week. I also rode my bike a fair bit on Sat., even though the weather wasn't nearly as nice. On the other hand, that meant fewer people were out, and I never felt particularly crowded.
I also watched Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove with my son. He actually had a school assignment to watch a movie about the Cold War and write a short essay about it, so I figured he might as well start with the best. I haven't actually seen this in many, many years. I had been meaning to watch a bunch of Monty Python movies in honor of Terry Jones, but that never happened (at least in part because I had to get new batteries for the remote that operates the DVD player...). Maybe I'll try to watch at least one this upcoming week. As it so happens, Videocabaret was going to be doing The Cold War from April-June, and this would have also been something entertaining and instructive. I assume that they will have to pause this, most likely until 2021, but I'll watch it whenever they open their doors.
I'm hoping that by not going completely crazy on work over the weekend, I am a bit more recharged for Monday, but I guess we'll see. The nicer weather helps as well, and at least I took reasonable advantage of it.*
And while this doesn't really have anything directly to do with me or my activities, there is finally a slowing of the new Covid cases in Ontario, though the deaths, particularly among seniors in assisted living facilities remain high. This is positive news, and helps us along the road to recovery. Ontario is taking a fairly slow approach to reopening, though it seems that most stores will likely be reopened by the summer with reduced capacities. More and more stores are planning on requiring the use of masks, so I had really better get around to making a few (and a co-worker is going to give me one that her mom has sewn). I think the things I really care about (theatre and concerts) will be the longest to reopen, but that day will come eventually. I think that's probably it for now.
* The flip side of it being nice out and working outside is that it is also allergy season, and I was not feeling great this morning...
Today I did unwind a bit and read outdoors, then I did a fair bit of weeding in the front yard. I did not get around to planting any seeds, but I'll probably do that later in the week. I also rode my bike a fair bit on Sat., even though the weather wasn't nearly as nice. On the other hand, that meant fewer people were out, and I never felt particularly crowded.
I also watched Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove with my son. He actually had a school assignment to watch a movie about the Cold War and write a short essay about it, so I figured he might as well start with the best. I haven't actually seen this in many, many years. I had been meaning to watch a bunch of Monty Python movies in honor of Terry Jones, but that never happened (at least in part because I had to get new batteries for the remote that operates the DVD player...). Maybe I'll try to watch at least one this upcoming week. As it so happens, Videocabaret was going to be doing The Cold War from April-June, and this would have also been something entertaining and instructive. I assume that they will have to pause this, most likely until 2021, but I'll watch it whenever they open their doors.
I'm hoping that by not going completely crazy on work over the weekend, I am a bit more recharged for Monday, but I guess we'll see. The nicer weather helps as well, and at least I took reasonable advantage of it.*
And while this doesn't really have anything directly to do with me or my activities, there is finally a slowing of the new Covid cases in Ontario, though the deaths, particularly among seniors in assisted living facilities remain high. This is positive news, and helps us along the road to recovery. Ontario is taking a fairly slow approach to reopening, though it seems that most stores will likely be reopened by the summer with reduced capacities. More and more stores are planning on requiring the use of masks, so I had really better get around to making a few (and a co-worker is going to give me one that her mom has sewn). I think the things I really care about (theatre and concerts) will be the longest to reopen, but that day will come eventually. I think that's probably it for now.
* The flip side of it being nice out and working outside is that it is also allergy season, and I was not feeling great this morning...
Brick Books - An Appreciation
I've written about a few other imprints that I admire, such as NYRB Classics and LOA. I thought I would shine a bit of a light on Brick Books, which specializes in poetry by Canadians (talk about niche!). I have won two mini competitions sponsored by the Canadian Book Challenge where the prize was poetry books by Brick Books. I did get around to reviewing the first set, but haven't finished the second set. I have to admit, my compulsion to wrap up a number of reviews is on the low side right now.
My favourite book they published was Sue Sinclair's Mortal Arguments, though I also liked Chris Hutchinson's Other People's Lives a fair bit.
Here are a handful of other reviews I can recall, though it is not intended to be the exhaustive list of the Brick Books titles I have reviewed:
Michael Crummey Hard Light
John Donlan Spirit Engine
Jane Munro Blue Sonoma
David O'Meara Noble Gas, Penny Black
Sue Sinclair Breaker
Anyway, I found that a number of their newest titles, including a new collection by Jane Munro, Glass Float, and Maureen Hyne's Sotto Voce and Kate Cayley's Other Houses are available through Overdrive, so they can be read while in lockdown even though the libraries are all closed. Overdrive has several somewhat older collections by the poet A.F. Moritz,* including Mahoning and Rest on the Flight into Egypt as well.
Sometimes poetry translates reasonably well in e-book format and sometimes the columns get a bit squished. No question I would generally prefer to read poetry in a hard copy, but I'm getting used to this. (I wouldn't be surprised if 10-15 years down the road, poets will have largely adapted their craft to e-books and just stick to shorter lines.)
I was poking around on the Brick Books website and apparently I missed a pretty big sale of their back titles running last month during Poetry Month (and while I don't really need a bunch of books sitting around the house, most of these probably aren't available as e-books**). I also found out that they have repackaged 6 of their favourite titles as "Brick Books Classics." 5 of the 6 are on Overdrive, but interestingly Dennis Lee's Riffs is not (though the poems themselves should be available in Heart Residence from House of Anansi, and this is in Overdrive). This omission led me to finding out that Brick Books is running a mini-sale on its e-books, where virtually all of their e-books are only $5, which is quite a good deal, so I ordered a couple that weren't available in Overdrive.
I would strongly encourage anyone interested in Canadian poetry to check out what is still available electronically through their libraries, as well as checking out the Brick Book website and seeing if anything grabs your fancy. The odds are pretty good that you can get it as an e-book for $5, though apparently the sale will only last through May, so you may want to jump on it.
* Though it does appear that his very latest -- Night Street Repairs and As Far as You Know -- are on House of Anansi, which is also a very good imprint focused on Canadian authors, though they publish fiction and occasional non-fiction and apparently colouring books, in addition to poetry. At the moment, they are not running an e-book sale, and I'll try to stick to their books available through Overdrive.
** I'm so tempted to email and ask if the sale can be extended by just another week, but I think I'll hold off, given just how many books I have to try to read and get out of the house. If they run the same sale next year, then all bets are off...
My favourite book they published was Sue Sinclair's Mortal Arguments, though I also liked Chris Hutchinson's Other People's Lives a fair bit.
Here are a handful of other reviews I can recall, though it is not intended to be the exhaustive list of the Brick Books titles I have reviewed:
Michael Crummey Hard Light
John Donlan Spirit Engine
Jane Munro Blue Sonoma
David O'Meara Noble Gas, Penny Black
Sue Sinclair Breaker
Anyway, I found that a number of their newest titles, including a new collection by Jane Munro, Glass Float, and Maureen Hyne's Sotto Voce and Kate Cayley's Other Houses are available through Overdrive, so they can be read while in lockdown even though the libraries are all closed. Overdrive has several somewhat older collections by the poet A.F. Moritz,* including Mahoning and Rest on the Flight into Egypt as well.
Sometimes poetry translates reasonably well in e-book format and sometimes the columns get a bit squished. No question I would generally prefer to read poetry in a hard copy, but I'm getting used to this. (I wouldn't be surprised if 10-15 years down the road, poets will have largely adapted their craft to e-books and just stick to shorter lines.)
I was poking around on the Brick Books website and apparently I missed a pretty big sale of their back titles running last month during Poetry Month (and while I don't really need a bunch of books sitting around the house, most of these probably aren't available as e-books**). I also found out that they have repackaged 6 of their favourite titles as "Brick Books Classics." 5 of the 6 are on Overdrive, but interestingly Dennis Lee's Riffs is not (though the poems themselves should be available in Heart Residence from House of Anansi, and this is in Overdrive). This omission led me to finding out that Brick Books is running a mini-sale on its e-books, where virtually all of their e-books are only $5, which is quite a good deal, so I ordered a couple that weren't available in Overdrive.
I would strongly encourage anyone interested in Canadian poetry to check out what is still available electronically through their libraries, as well as checking out the Brick Book website and seeing if anything grabs your fancy. The odds are pretty good that you can get it as an e-book for $5, though apparently the sale will only last through May, so you may want to jump on it.
* Though it does appear that his very latest -- Night Street Repairs and As Far as You Know -- are on House of Anansi, which is also a very good imprint focused on Canadian authors, though they publish fiction and occasional non-fiction and apparently colouring books, in addition to poetry. At the moment, they are not running an e-book sale, and I'll try to stick to their books available through Overdrive.
** I'm so tempted to email and ask if the sale can be extended by just another week, but I think I'll hold off, given just how many books I have to try to read and get out of the house. If they run the same sale next year, then all bets are off...
Why It Doesn't Pay to Be a Completist
Just a very short note on how I often try to listen to most CDs that jazz artists put out, though this is often impossible in the case of classical artists (where their complete works may run over 100 CDs!). But then an awful lot of artists indulge in fairly lousy "with strings" CDs or, what is even more grating to me is jazz with wordless vocals over it. This makes Donald Byrd's A New Perspective unlistenable for me. I basically am a completist with Andrew Hill, but I almost never listen to Lift Every Voice. I probably actually sold it off (back when this was an option), which was a pretty big step for me.
At any rate, I was streaming a John Scofield CD called Piety Street, which was an interesting mix of organ and guitar, but then there are gospel-infused vocals on essentially every track. I just couldn't take more than a few minutes of this.
Not really a profound statement but I did want to get that off my chest.
Fortunately, there is so much else to listen to, by Scofield and others, that I actually like. Now that I am in the mood, I think I may go off and listen to some Andrew Hill (aside from Lift Every Voice!) and set Scofield to the side for the moment.
At any rate, I was streaming a John Scofield CD called Piety Street, which was an interesting mix of organ and guitar, but then there are gospel-infused vocals on essentially every track. I just couldn't take more than a few minutes of this.
Not really a profound statement but I did want to get that off my chest.
Fortunately, there is so much else to listen to, by Scofield and others, that I actually like. Now that I am in the mood, I think I may go off and listen to some Andrew Hill (aside from Lift Every Voice!) and set Scofield to the side for the moment.
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