Back from Vancouver

I spent pretty close to three full days at the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) conference, though in fact I got there midway through Monday.  I met a lot of people; while many of them I had known or worked with previously, I did make a few useful new contacts.  I had stayed through Thurs., hoping to spend more time with TransLink staff, but really so few people are coming to the office these days that it is just as easy to do this through MS Teams.  I was able to sit in on a meeting of the TransLink modellers on Tues.  So Thurs., I worked out of my firm's Vancouver office, though I did have a meeting with a subconsultant who is based in Vancouver.  All in all, I probably could have arranged to go back Thurs. morning.

Downtown Vancouver hasn't changed too much from how I remember it.  From what I gather, the Downtown East Side is quite a bit worse.  I didn't head over that way.  On Wed. evening, I did skirt Chinatown a bit, as I was meeting up with a friend for dinner at an Indian place on Main.  It's not a part of town I was ever in a lot, though I did visit the Sun Yat-Sen Garden a couple of times while I lived in Vancouver.  We had a long discussion about how things had changed at TransLink, though we actually covered some of this ground on my last trip to Vancouver in April.  We mostly talked about books.  I handed over Cela's The Hive and O'Brien's August is a Wicked Month.  I also passed along The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers, which I had abandoned as I was nearing the halfway mark.  I just found this so pretentious, even if it was sort of low-key pretentious.  I think the passage that did me in is when one of the older biochemists is explaining the history of classical music to another one, as if the long passages about unraveling the structure of DNA and the mysteries of Guanine (G) and Thymine (T) weren't enough.  Also, I wasn't convinced that the minor plot variations needed to hit 32 (to ape Goldberg) or that this novel really needed to stretch out to this length; 250-300 pages would have been fine.  While Stoppard's Arcadia came along a couple of years later, it just does this two love stories in two different time periods so much better.  I glanced through some Goodreads comments.  While most people who stuck it out thought this was a masterpiece, there was some dissent, including someone who said that Powers decided to squeeze in some absurd thriller-like plot at the very end.  I was almost intrigued enough to read ahead but decided I would be better off moving on.  So far I'm really enjoying The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams, and incidentally I am also near the halfway mark. 

I could have wrapped this novel on the red-eye flight back from Vancouver but decided I needed sleep better, so I only read up until the point where they handed out the snacks and drinks, and then I crashed.   (I think the fact that I only managed to get through 100 pages on the Stratford bus and then another 150 pages after 8 or so hours while in transit to Vancouver made it pretty clear that I was just not into The Gold Bug Variations!)  Friday, I pushed through a full day of work, though I was pretty tired (and am still feeling it a bit).  I should wrap up The Quick and the Dead this weekend and likely Waugh's The Loved One as well. 

I don't have a lot planned for this weekend, though I am about to head over to the gym.  I might spend some time working on the deck, and I will also try to swim on Sunday as well as get over to Word on the Street (which should be at Queens Park) and then I have tickets to a Tafelmusik matinee.

Back from Stratford

I had a good time at Stratford.  I have to say I was overdressed in the sense that I was expecting fall weather, and indeed it rained a fair bit in Toronto.  However, it was like a summer day in Stratford with no rain at all!  It did make it a bit uncomfortable, as I was criss-crossing the downtown, but it did mean that the artists were out in the park.

Anyway, I had been warned, but getting there was a bit more difficult than normal because the Gardiner was closed, and we sort of crawled along on Lake Shore Blvd.  I had thought I would use the extra time to read more, but I was exceedingly tired, and also The Gold Bug Variations is an extremely slow burner.  I may still give up on it, as it just isn't grabbing me, though pages 50-100 are better than 1-50.

It's always interesting coming to Stratford.  Since I only do it once or so a year, the changes stand out a bit more.  It's been several years since the Pizza Pizza closed and was replaced with a Cat Cafe.  I still remember on one of my first trips back (2015 probably) that the 2nd (and more interesting to me) bookstore on the main drag was closing down.  I've seen a trendy vinyl place open up, but I don't go in because the prices are absurd.  Anyway, this time around I saw a new "bowl" place, though I didn't have time to try it, and a Mexican place.  I went in there and was able to get a burrito to go, since I was feeling a bit squeezed for time because we had gotten in about 30 minutes late.

I walked through the art in the park, and still had about 15 minutes to check out Gallery Stratford up past the Festival Theatre.  I'm not sure if they always had this admission fee, but it's now $12 for adults, which is well beyond what I think is reasonable for such a small gallery.  I think it probably used to be free, or perhaps a $5 donation.  I can't imagine going back at that price, so I won't have to quickstep in on my next visit.  (Honestly, we should get in free with proof that we are seeing a show at Stratford...)

London Assurance was good, though it does start a bit slow.  There was a point in the second half where I did nod off just a bit, though I don't think I missed more than a minute or two.  I actually bought the play at the gift shop and double-checked later, and if I did miss anything it was the somewhat dopey duel subplot.

I had dinner at the Thai place downtown that I usually eat out, since I can eat outside, which is nice, provided the weather cooperates.  I saw that Matilda Swanson Art Gallery, which was a new addition on my last trip, still is in business, so that was cool.  I ran in and had a quick look 'round.

I walked back to the Festival Theatre, and sat outside on some benches.  I did read a little bit but have to admit, the book just isn't all that interesting.  I set an alarm so I wouldn't miss my next play and perhaps I did nod off just a bit.

I enjoyed Twelfth Night a lot.  This production had not sold well (at least on this evening), and pretty much anyone sitting in the wings was moved in a section to fill in the audience a bit more.  That was pretty great.  This is perhaps the first production where Viola and Sebastian looked enough alike that it was actually believable they could be mistaken for each other (after you got past the height difference!).  I thought the "duel" between Auguecheek and Viola was very funny (they were in a boxing ring with boxing gloves on!).  One somewhat interesting twist is that Viola didn't turn back up in her women's garb either at the very end or at curtain call.  Typically she does, at least the productions that I remember.

It was another long trip back to the city, though I tried to sleep.  In the end, I didn't get back to downtown Toronto until 1:45, and then I still had to bike home, so I was very late and very weary.

Briefly, on Sunday, I did sleep for a while (though not enough).  I went to to the gym and did a very small grocery run after that (as I am off to Vancouver for pretty much the whole week!).  I biked over to Carlton Cinema and watched DiDi, a film about a very socially awkward Asian-American boy about to start high school and see him navigating his peer group and a first crush.  It was set in 2008, so the early childhood of the internet as well.  Some elements were a bit triggering, as I was very socially awkward at that same age, though I didn't have to deal with Yahoo or AOL groups, thank goodness.  I may circle back at a later point to discuss this in more detail.

Friday I had managed to go to the high end TPL book sale and got a few art books (Klimt, Klee & Henry Moore).  I had debating picking up a John Marin by John Marin book, but 1) I didn't have any space left in my panier and 2) there were only a handful of colour plates.  It turns out that Robarts has a copy, so I was able to check that out on Sunday, though I probably should have waited to check it out after I returned from Vancouver.  Oh well...

Then I went to work and did some GIS processing of this PSRC data.  I hope I manage to get to the point I can use it, though I think I may simply run out of time, between having to pack and order a cab (for only a few hours from now at this point...).  So I guess I really ought to break things off at this point.  Ciao!

Last Chance(s) for Walker

It's a busy day, and I have to try to leave soon to get a jump on things, but I thought I would point out that this is the last weekend to see George F. Walker's Fierce, over at Alumnae Theatre.  Apparently there is not a Sunday matinee, so act fast.  Fierce was good if a little contrived and unbelievable (which is kind of Walker's signature style).

However, Girls Unwanted is in a completely different category.  It is about three young women who are living in a sort of halfway house, more or less abandoned by "the system," though there is a live-in case worker who is dangerously close to burn out herself.  There is some humour in the play, but mostly hurt and rage.  Nothing about the plot was far-fetched at all (which indeed is a bit of a departure for Walker...). 

It was very intense, which was ramped up even further because I was in the front row, so close to the action that one time an actor bumped my foot while coming through the stage door!  You might want to be a row or two back.  It plays in Parkdale, right at King and Dufferin, and true to form there were quite a few people hanging on the stoop and the street asking for change.  Anyway, it runs through this weekend and next (tickets here), and I would recommend it, though not if you are looking for a feel-good night at the theatre.  

Change(s) of Plans

After I found out that I wasn't going to Stratford after all, I slept in pretty late.  I eventually made my way over to the gym.  I certainly don't normally go that late (it was basically early afternoon).  I don't go nearly as often as I used to in the evenings, as I find it is pretty crowded.  Sat. or Sun. morning is usually not too bad, but this was actually far emptier, which was quite nice, though I don't plan on making a habit of it.  Afterwards, I actually had to hustle a bit in order to grab a few things on hold at the library before they closed.

It was a nice day, and I had kind of wanted to read outside, but I also wanted to get this deck repair done.  I dragged my feet a bit but finally got started.  In the end, I managed to get one and a half boards removed before it just got too dark.  I think I read a bit after that and got at least a bit of work done.

Sunday I escorted my daughter to her volunteer job downtown.  The TTC was in fine form.  Dundas Station was closed due to police activity with no hint as to when this would wrap up, so we walked down from College.  After I dropped her off, I wanted to backtrack and go to the Regent Park pool.  I just managed to get a streetcar, but it turned out it wasn't going anywhere because there was some addict sprawled out on the floor completely unwilling to move.  I think the passengers would have been more than happy to walk around him, but the driver wasn't going anywhere.  Finally, he put the streetcar out of service.  This was unbelievably frustrating, and probably had the standoff happened later in the evening, someone would have physically dragged him off the streetcar.  I guess the only (small) saving grace is that the driver made us all get off the streetcar and drove off with the addict still on the floor.  I guess he was going to try to meet the police and/or ambulance somewhere (though there certainly should have been some kind of response from the ambulances around the corner at Victoria and Shuter!).  Otherwise, the Dundas line would have been completely shut down for who knows how long.  Under normal circumstances, I would have given up and gone to work instead, but the Dundas station was still shut down.  It was a very long wait (definitely over 10 minutes) for the next streetcar, but I did eventually get to the pool and did 22 or so laps.

Then I did go to work for a bit, trying to focus entirely on GIS processing, as my VPN situation still isn't great when working from home. Then I picked up my daughter.  I thought I would take her out for a late lunch, but she just wanted to go home.  

So then I was actually able to return to the deck repair.  I pried out the last half board, and then nailed in the replacement boards and stained them.

I was wrapping up as dusk fell.  Between swimming the extra laps and all the hammering, I was a bit weary.  I basically crashed and then woke up in the middle of the night and got a bit more work done, though not quite as much as I had hoped.

I ended up working from home on Monday, and I certainly assumed that I would be able to sand the other boards and hit them with a new coat of stain.  I'll try to get around to the other parts of the deck, but the top part needs it the most.  Anyway, almost my entire team is out in Edmonton this week, and the call that was supposed to end around 5:30 or so ran until 7:45!  I should have just dropped off anyway, but they were talking about important things like the project schedule.  I only was able to briefly test that the belt sander was still working before it just got too late.  This means that I will have to try to come home from work early on Tues. to wrap this up, which means I can't run over to see anything at Carlton until Wed.  (While there wasn't much I really wanted see at the TIFF Festival, I probably would have watched Croenenberg's The Shrouds.  No idea when this will actually turn up at a regular screening.  I also somehow missed the Goddard flic at Paradise, and they just don't have that much on through Oct.  Sigh.)

Now I had been scheduled to see Jane's Addiction and Love and Rockets on Wed.  I was certainly a bit worried that the weather wouldn't cooperate, but that was the least of my worries.  As has been widely reported, Perry Farrell tried to hit the lead guitar player and had to be restrained and taken off stage.  While I thought it was unlikely they would continue the tour after this, I was hoping somehow they could get themselves together.  Honestly, I could care less about Jane's Addition.  I wanted to see Love and Rockets again.  We already lost so many concerts during COVID (and several never rescheduled).  Then The Fixx keyboard player broke his hand right before the NYC show.  Then Neil Young cancelled his second Toronto show.  And now this.  I'm definitely more than a little pissed off.  So as I said, I'll probably go to the movies instead on Wed.

I'm scheduled to see a George F. Walker premiere on Thurs., and then Friday, I'll probably hit The Rex to see if I can see Neil Swainson in action again.  So I am not exactly moping around.

Sat. is my all-day excursion to Stratford for this season.  Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates.  Sunday I will take my daughter over to Spadina Museum.  I may be able to sneak away to do work and/or see something at Carlton depending on what they have scheduled.

And then I am off to Vancouver for the TAC Conference.  So not a whole lot of downtime over the next week or so...  There is very little rain in the forecast, so I probably should go ahead and water the plants, even though I don't like to do that.

Edit (9/17): I was able to get home by 7, so I had a narrow window to get the sanding done before it got really dark by 7:45 or so.  I wasn't as worried about putting on the stain after dark, as that wasn't going to disturb anyone's rest...  Hopefully it looks ok.  It should be dry by Wed. evening, not that I am planning on going out there for a while.  I may be able to work on the next section on Sunday, but I saw that it was threatening to rain Sunday into Monday, and that probably won't give me the time I need to let it dry.  I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Times 100 Best Books (of the 21st Century)

I managed to see this list previously, but a week or so ago it turned up in the Toronto Star paper (on Sundays I get some key extracts from the NY Times, including the book reviews).

I'm not going to go through the whole list here, but it looks like I have read 15 of them.  A handful of these I didn't care for all that much, particularly Ben Lerner's 10:04, Han Kang's The Vegetarian and Edward P. Jones's All Aunt Hagar's Children.  I disliked Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo so much that I stopped after 30 pages or so.  I did like a few of the ones I read (including Station Eleven and Erasure), but just generally I don't think I am that aligned with their editorial decisions.

That said, there are probably 5 that I expect to read in the next year or so:
Denis Johnson Train Dreams
Paul Beatty The Sellout
Lucia Berlin A Manual for Cleaning Women
Alice Munro Runaway (yes, I am still going to finish reading her work)
Tony Judt Postwar (I don't often read non-fiction, but this one does seem essential)

That would bring me to 20, and perhaps over the years I will get to 25 (another Munro and some late Philip Roth and Mohsin Hamid's Exit West), but I don't think I'm likely to get much further than that.

At this point in the post, I am just going back to talking about reading in general and not the Times's list...

I didn't make it to Stratford this weekend, but I will go next weekend and make a big dent in Powers's The Gold Bug Variations.  The following week I will travel to Vancouver and I am planning on bringing DuPont's The American Fiancée and perhaps Joy Williams's The Quick and the Dead as well.

In my main (non-special travel) reading, I'm making decent progress on Waugh's The Loved One. (I was thinking I might try to see the movie, but it is surprisingly hard to find in a library or to stream, which is weird, as I am completely convinced I had checked it out at one point.  Maybe this was even in Vancouver, as their library seems to have it.  So odd.  In fact, there is only a very loose connection between the movie and the novel, so I can't get too hung up over this.)  

I'll also be getting to Dawn Powell's The Golden Spur soon.  After I read this, Angels on Toast and her story collection Sunday, Monday and Always, I will be able to cross her off my list.  I'm reasonably close with William Maxwell as well, though I have more short stories to get through, and he has dropped a bit on the interim lists.

In terms of books I've thought about reading for a long time, I will be bringing up di Lampedusa's The Leopard (again one where I might watch the movie shortly afterwards) and also Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, which I read many, many years ago.  It's quite short, which is appealing these days...

I'm starting to think that as I finally return to my main reading list (after many, many detours), I want to add Atwood's Maddaddam Trilogy and then for the following year Lessing's Martha Quest novels.  I feel it's just time to tackle them.  (While her best work was certainly in the 20th Century, I definitely think the Times's list needed to find a way to add something by Margaret Atwood, as I'm pretty sure it didn't.)

This reminds me that I have a hold on Atwood's newest poetry collection, Paper Boat, New and Selected Poems, 1968-2023, which comes out next month.  It's not entirely clear whether this is closer to a Selected or a Collected, as well as how many new poems there are, at least since Dearly came out (in 2020, so not that long ago!).  I have pretty much all her early poems, but I don't have Morning in the Burned House or Dearly, so I might be in the market for this.  Curiously, there are 3 different covers.  The US edition will look just like her stamp.  If I do order it, I'll try to make sure to get the UK edition, which has the coolest cover.  But I definitely need to see what's in there first, so I won't be pre-ordering this.

Let Myself Down (Stratford)

I have really been racing to get a lot of (work) things done by the end of the week, and I just didn't manage to get through a few things, with getting a briefing deck pulled together being the biggest failing.  It did not help that I kept getting pulled into virtual meetings and was multitasking like mad.  

At any rate, as sort of a last minute check. I went and looked at the Stratford website, and there was a bus ticket available for Sat.  I should have just booked then, but of course I got pulled into an in person meeting that was supposed to last 60 minutes and lasted 90 minutes instead and ran well past closing time.  Then I ran down to Union to catch the GO Train to Bloor and went over to MOCA for Free Friday.  The new exhibits are open, and I'd say this is one of the more interesting shows.  It's still not my favourite show at MOCA, which was New Alphabet from last year, but it was good.  Not sure I'd go twice, but I guess you never know.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Daalkaatlii Diaries, 2024

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Daalkaatlii Diaries, 2024

Tishan Hsu, Bloody Mary, 1983

Tishan Hsu, Interface Remix, 2002

On the way back home, I just missed the bus (and thus the free transfer window).  I had to pick up some last-minute groceries, so I got them on Bloor instead of closer to home, which meant a fairly long walk down Pape with a bunch of groceries.  I got home and just crashed.  I woke up at 4 am, all ready to try to book my tickets, but the bus option is completely unavailable.  I suspect it's not even that someone scooped up the available seat, though that may have happened, but there is some timed cut-off to get onto the bus list for the next day, and I missed that.  I'm kind of pissed off about this.  But at the same time, I think it's a combination of being really worn out, and then also feeling subconsciously that I don't deserve to go with unfinished work that really prevented me from booking this trip today.  And I suppose I wasn't thrilled that I would need to try to set up the printer to print off the bus tickets, but I could have coped with that...  I haven't decided yet if I will go to see Something Rotten on its own some other day, as it was extended for several weeks, but Get That Hope is now off the table.  I wonder if it will transfer to Soulpepper or Mirvish will pick it up.

Given that my entire schedule is shot, I think I'll go back to bed, sleep as long as I want, and go to the gym when I wake up.  Then I will just see if I can finally get caught up on work (and just possibly some reading) over the weekend.

Busy Week, Pt 2

On Wed., I went over to Budweiser Stage to see The Killers.  I managed to get myself lost and went through Trilium Park and had to backtrack.  It does not help that there are fences everywhere and hoardings that block off some of the access points.  I wasn't in a particular rush, as the opening acts weren't particularly inspiring.  I managed to get there at 8:05, so I caught just a couple of songs from the second opener.  They were ok, but not worth getting there early...  I did like this poster, but I didn't feel like carrying it back on my bike after the show, and it's not like I have anywhere to hang it anyway.

I was sitting behind a huge guy, and that made me sad.  Then he and his girlfriend went off to get food or something, and they and some other friends shuffled seats, and I had a pretty good view.  Until the concert started and the entire stadium leapt to its feet.  There was a super tall guy two rows ahead that blocked my view of centre stage!  Plus I had no intention of standing the entire concert.  That's why I refuse to go to Phoenix.  But there really was no alternative.  So incredibly frustrating.  It was a good concert, but probably I wouldn't have paid to go had I known all the circumstances.  Anyway, Brandon certainly has charisma to burn, perhaps like Bono back in my youth when he still was fairly cool and not embarrassing.  

One thing that was curious is that they mixed up the setlist almost entirely between the Tues. show and the Wed. show.  On the whole, I think we had the better concert (and the sound issues had been fixed!).  They actually had someone in the audience come up and drum on 'For Reasons Unknown,' and he was quite good!  (I think this must be some sort of inside joke related to the fact that the drummer switches to guitar on this song for some reason.)  I only kind of wish Brandon had worn his burgundy outfit from Tues. and that they had played The Man (instead of Andy, You're a Star).  But minor quibbles.  Aside from standing the whole time, which really did irk me, it was a very good concert.  

Today, I stayed at work just a bit longer than I should have, so had to rush home to quickly eat and then head over to Coal Mine to see Annie Baker's Infinite Life.  It is a play about 5 women and 1 man who are staying at an alternative medicine clinic where they are fasting to try to cure themselves of various ailments.  In general, I like Annie Baker's work, but this did drag in bits, most likely because I don't like sitting and dwelling on pain and medical calamities, so her schtick of long pauses felt quite long indeed.  And the actual plot is pretty thin (certainly less than The Aliens, which remains my favourite play of hers).  This has about the same level of plot as John and slightly less than The Flick.  Some very, very fine performances of course, particularly Christine Horne and Nancy Palk at the end. 

I still have to try to get a few things done tonight.  Sigh.  Most likely I'll get over to MOCA tomorrow, but I don't really have a lot going on on Friday, certainly compared to the rest of the week!

Busy Week

Most of the weeks this September are busy, but I think this one is extremely busy. And of course work has really heated up as well...

Anyway, on Monday I ran up to North York to see Heather O'Neill at the North York Library. She was being interviewed about the inspiration behind her latest novel, The Capital of Dreams, which is about an imaginary European country enduring a war, based largely upon WWII but much more fable-like. There is also a talking goose. So it might be considered a sort of fairy tale for adults. (During the question and answer session, she was asked if she was considering writing for children, and she said she might do, but it would be hard to take all the sex out of her writing...) More info on the novel here. They actually had a large stack of the book for sale, even though technically it wasn't supposed to be published until Tues. She only read a couple of pages from the prologue to the novel, but the interview and questions were quite entertaining, so it was worth making the trek north.

After the event, she was very gracious about signing the new book and an older book of short stories I had brought along.  I don't know when I will find the time to read either, but I will try to make time in the fall/winter.  I actually dropped in at work for a couple of hours afterwards.

Tonight, I saw Spoon over at the Danforth Music Hall.  I left at 7:30 and walked there in exactly 27 minutes.  If I had left earlier or walked faster, I probably would have stopped in at the Night Baker, but I didn't.  I slid into my seat just as the lights went down and the opening act, A Giant Dog, went on.  That was cutting it far too close.  Now I might not have been quite as worried about getting there on time had I known who the opening act was.  In fact, I wasn't sure there was an opening act, but I assumed there would be.  A Giant Dog was ok, but not all that memorable.*  I actually wandered down to the restroom during their last song.

Spoon was very good, generally a sort of heavy, layered guitar sound.  This time around the band has 5 members.  Squeeze was still a bit better, however.  It's very annoying to find out that I am still having issues with Ticketmaster and Google Wallet.  Basically, someone at TM has to go in and delink the Google account and I then sign in again and then set up Wallet again.  But they generally can't be bothered.  In the meantime, I had no issues using the Ticketmaster app, which does beg the question of why I upgraded the phone in the first place, since it was almost entirely because of Google Wallet.  Sigh.

Anyway, the pictures and video are definitely better than on my old phone.  Sadly, I hadn't realized how low the battery was.  I did make it through the concert and filmed large chunks of it, though the battery completely died with about 2 minutes to go in the encore.  Also, that meant I couldn't read anything on Libby while waiting on the TTC to get me home.  Still, it could have been worse...

I think I had been vaguely aware of Spoon when I saw them opening for Beck in 2019.  It is a bit unfortunate (that I wasn't more attuned to them before), as they played at Massey Hall in 2017 and played quite a few songs that I really like, including 'Do I Have to Talk You Into It,' 'Can I Sit Next to You,' and 'Hot Thoughts.'  Now apparently, they did play 'Hot Thoughts' when they opened for Beck, but I didn't really remember this.  It looks like they haven't played 'Can I Sit Next to You' or 'Hot Thoughts' since 2019, which is too bad, though I do like the newer tracks off Lucifer on the Sofa.  Anyway, I saw them opening for Metric in 2022, but this was the first time I saw them as headliners, since I didn't go to see them at Massey Hall.  I'm not entirely sure if I would go a fourth time.  I suppose it would depend on how much I like their newest material.  I would agree that they really have not made a bad album and have a lot (perhaps too much) good material to choose from for their setlists.  I think wherever I read this, the writer was comparing them to The New Pornographers.  That's probably not a terrible comparison, though I think Spoon is a much more compelling band live.**  (For that matter, I think Metric is much better on record than live...)

I'll keep it much briefer for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow I am off to Budweiser Stage to see The Killers.  I have to say both the opening acts look pretty dire, so I don't think I will hurry to get there, especially if I have work to wrap up.  At least the weather should be nice.  Incredibly, this isn't even the last show I see out at Budweiser Stage.  The following Wed., I am seeing Love and Rockets along with Jane's Addition.

Then Thurs., I am going over to Coal Mine to check out Annie Baker's Infinite Life.  I'm certainly looking forward to this, though I should probably try to find some time to sleep between now and then!

While I have the opportunity to go do a meet and greet at Tarragon on Friday, I think I will skip that.  I might, however, try to catch the GO Train up to Bloor West station and then walk over to MOCA.  I think Fridays evenings are still free and the fall exhibitions have just opened up.  (It's another couple of weeks before the Power Plant has its fall exhibitions open.)  Now I had been trying to squeeze in one more Stratford trip on Sat., but there are no seats on the bus, so that makes it too hard for me to manage.  I'm not willing to rent a car to make the trip.  I guess I will check periodically to see if anyone gave back a bus ticket, but it certainly isn't looking promising.  I already had checked the Shaw schedule, and it is literally impossible to find a weekend performance of Candida where the bus is actually running, so that completely dropped off my radar.  But honestly, I may need the weekend just to recover from this week...

* One somewhat amusing thing is that they said they were going to play a Sparks' cover called 'Ants in Your Pants,' which certainly sounds like a Sparks' song.  But I checked it later and no such song exists, and it is their own song called 'Angst in Your Pants.'  Pretty cheeky...

** I actually went over to the CNE to see The New Pornographers performing back in late August.  (I had considered but ultimately decided to skip their earlier shows at Danforth Music Hall.)  I wasn't that familiar with the material, but I really liked 'Pontius Pilate's Home Movies,' which interestingly is on their latest CD, Continue as a Guest.  There certainly aren't that many songs about Pontius Pilate, though he shows up in other art forms and is a major figure in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.

Circles

I would say that today (actually Saturday) involved a lot of going around in circles, which always puts me in mind of the Soul Asylum song, 'Circles.'  I ended up going over to the mall and back twice, and it looks like I'll probably have to go twice tomorrow as well.

Saturday I did get over to the Regent Park pool just before noon and swam 22 or so laps, which are their own kind of somewhat tedious circle.  At least the hot pool area was open, so I soaked in that for 10 minutes.

I had planned to go to Yonge-Dundas Square before the play, but then I got a text that my daughter needed something, so I biked back to Gerrard Square and picked up that for her.  I also stopped in at Staples to look at printer prices, since the home printer seems to have given up the ghost.  And I bought some dress loafers.

I then had about 20 minutes to make it back over the Don to Alumnae Theatre to see Fierce.  I only found about this play a few days ago.  It played at the Red Sandcastle in Feb. 2018, and I had debated going to see the play but finally didn't because I knew it would be a bit of a downer, plus I saw 7 other plays that Feb., so something had to give!  This production is actually directed by Walker, as is another production (Girls Unwanted in Parkdale), so the far west side of the city, then a production at the Campbell House Museum in Feb. 2025.  So Walker is staying extremely busy these days.

I had a bit of time before the show, so I read a bit more of Cela's The Hive.  I have finally gotten through it.  I'll write down my impressions of Fierce a bit later, along with any thoughts on The Hive.  (Briefly it is well acted but a downer in many places, and you also have to go with the flow of near strangers opening up so fully to each other, which is a bit of a hallmark of Walker's writing.)  The play was reasonably short, being 80 minutes long without an intermission.  So in the end, I did have time to get to Yonge-Dundas Square.  I didn't see anything I was looking for at BMV, and then no one in the mini-food court across the way had mango lassi.  I continued on to 401 Richmond.  Some new gallery has already opened up, taking the place of Yumart.  This time the Black Artist Network space was open, so I took a look at Audra Townsend's work.  DNA was my favorite piece of hers.

I took another look at The Blue Ladder upstairs at Abbozzo, but I wasn't quite ready to purchase it, and certainly not ready to take it home om my bike!  I'll think about it another couple of weeks.

Then I stopped in at work, having to make some major detours due to King St. being shut down for TIFF.  I guess I have managed to get the VPN working at home, but I still can't tell why I can't get ArcGIS working from home.  It's pretty frustrating, and it means, until this is fixed, I have to spend extra time at the office.  After putting in about an hour, I headed back home.

My wife and I had tickets to see Squeeze at Massey Hall, with the English Beat as the opening act.  Both acts were good, but I was surprised at how tight Squeeze was.

One thing that was surprising is that they did a very extended version of Black Coffee in Bed as their closer, and they didn't do an encore at all!  Here's the set list.  I think this is the best rock concert I've seen this year, though there will be some stiff competition coming up soon.  They announced on stage that they were going to play a number they hadn't been playing for a while and then proceeded to play 'Some Fantastic Place.'  Now it happens that this wasn't the very first time this made its way into the set list, as they played it in Chicago a few nights before, but it is still a relatively new entry into the set list, so that was cool.  One minor point is that they replaced the saxophone riffs in 'Hourglass' with shredding guitar.  Given that there is a pretty good saxophone player with The English Beat on tour with them, they might have brought him on stage.  Oh well.  

One other interesting thing is that they didn't have any vinyl (or even CDs) for sale at the merch booth, which is extremely common now, as it is the only way bands make money while touring.  Everything was just t-shirts or hoodies or pins.

I really liked the English Beat t-shirt, but not for $55.  I spent a little time looking on-line after the concert, and there are quite a few Etsy shops (mostly in the UK) that were selling something that looked similar (but is based on a different English Beat poster).  Anyway, one of the shops had a 50% sale, so I got one for me and my wife (after getting her to vow we would never wear them out at the same time!).  While shipping was high, it wasn't crazy high if you ordered two shirts.  Interestingly, it was cheaper to ship to Canada than the US,* which almost never is the case!

We ended up taking the Dundas streetcar instead of the subway, so we went right past the Regent Park pool, which is where the day's events started!  I got a fair bit of reading in, and I should be wrapping up Edna O'Brien's August is a Wicked Month on Sunday, i.e. later today.  There's more to write, but I really need to get some sleep.

* Also, curiously, this is also the case for Soundway Records, as I found out the other day when I decided to order a couple of CDs I am missing from my collection, including Nigeria Special Vol. 2 and Highlife on the Move.

Movie Updates

I just finished watching Altman's Three Women.  I had a very vague idea of the plot, but it was still quite an odd movie.  It didn't really grab me for long stretches.  I often found myself tuning out Duvall's inane nattering, which surely was intentional on Altman's part.  It wasn't clear what was driving some of the reversals, particularly Pinky getting very assertive, then reverting back into a childlike passivity.  I'm not that likely to watch it again, but maybe I would listen to Altman's commentary.  Hard to tell.  I would have preferred it at 90 minutes rather than 2+ hours.  Nashville was longer but it held my attention much better.

I was reading up a bit on Three Women, and a few critics mentioned that it appeared to be inspired by Bergman's Persona.*  I actually have a copy of this, so I probably should try to watch it one of these days.  I think I made it 2/3 of the Bergman's major trilogy (Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light and The Silence).  I probably will watch the full trilogy and then get to Persona, though when that will happen is anyone's guess.

I finally watched the first film in S. Ray's Calcutta Trilogy (The Adversary).  I will try to make a bit of a push to watch the other two: Seemabaddha (Company Limited) and The Middleman.

I still have to get through A Woman Under the Influence and Opening Night, but I will see if I can get around to them in the next couple of weeks.  As I mentioned, I don't really think I am on Cassavetes's wavelength, so getting through his films is a bit of a chore.

I am definitely much more on Almodovar's wavelength.  I have three or so DVDs piled near the TV, and I will try to watch them all before fall is over.  Now on the 25th, Queer Cinema Club is showing The Skin I Live In.  This is not particularly high on my list of Almodovar films to watch, but I would have gone had I been in town.  However, I will be in Vancouver at a conference, so will have to miss it.

If I do finally get through all these movies, I need to go back to the Kurosawa box I bought many, many years ago and have barely put a dent in getting through it.  Sigh.

The TIFF festival is in town, though I generally boycott the festival itself (and won't be renewing my TIFF membership next year).  I kind of ignore TIFF for the next month and will wait until Oct. to check it out again.

I don't think there is anything I really need to see at the Paradise.  I seem to keep missing films that might be of interest, but I am probably at the outer limits of keeping track of cultural events.  I do see that in a couple of weeks they are screening Godard's 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her.  Maybe I'll try to make that, particularly if I don't make it out to Stratford on the 14th.  (I would make the trip but there are no seats at all on the bus, so I need to check back periodically to see if someone cancels.  Blah.)

It's only another week or so before the Beetlejuice sequel opens.  I'll probably go.  It's probably fine as long as my expectations are not too high.  I had debated going to see Coppola's Megalopolis, but the more I read about it, the more it sounds like a total mess and not worth my time.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that I finally, finally got the Netflix issue resolved.  Bell was simply unable to solve the issue without sending me a 4K TV box (and of course then upgrading my already far too high bill).  It was possible to use something called Bell Streamer, which is basically just a Roku-like box.  They gave thousands of these away for free in Quebec.  I'm not sure if the promotion ever reached Ontario, or I simply ignored it.  I got incredibly frustrated when they wanted to charge me $80 for one and wouldn't bundle it with my already outrageous monthly bill.  So I went and picked up a new Roku box for $39, and it works just fine.  I don't want to really go down the Netflix rabbit hole, as I can't even keep up with movies that I would like to see, but I do think I'll watch the new series Kaos.  Who knows after that.  The only thing(s) I really want to try to watch is the new season of Futurama, but that comes out on Hulu** (apparently the last episode airs Sept. 30, so there is a tiny chance I will get a free trial of Hulu in Oct. or Nov., though that won't help for future seasons).  I would imagine this is one of the relatively few shows on a streaming service that will also be sold as a DVD set.  If not, I guess I'll have to dust off my VPN and torrent software.  (I kid, I kid...)  The other show is the Scott Pilgrim cartoon, which came out last year.  As it happens, this is a Netflix production, so I should be able to watch it now (I mean if lack of free time in general wasn't an issue...).

* And a few referenced Altman's Quintet as an example of a not particularly successful film.  This film has pretty much vanished, and I'm not sure how interested I really am in seeing it.  Nonetheless, I wanted to know if I could watch it if the mood struck me.  As it turns out, it ended up stuck inside a Paul Newman box set.  And one that I happen to own!  (Though clearly not one that I explored in detail...)  And not just Quintet, but another Altman film, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, is also included.  Pretty weird.

** It's actually Disney+ in Canada, as we don't get Hulu up here.  So I think getting the DVDs are the better course of action, but if I do try the Disney + free trial route, I should pick a month I have some spare time to watch The Mandalorian as well...

Quick Post

As much as I would like to write about art and/or literature, I am running quite late for work, so I will keep it short.  The visit to the doctor went reasonably well.  My weight is down a small amount, though I did gain back about 5 pounds from my "best weight," so I clearly need to keep working at it; I will try to hit the gym tonight and go swimming after work tomorrow, though it is really the late night snacking and not lack of exercise per se that is preventing me from losing weight and keeping it off.  More importantly, my blood sugar is dropping (very slightly) but to the point where I won't need to be popping any (more) pills, so I just need to buckle down.

Second, I still haven't been able to reset my Google password, though I think I may finally be getting access tomorrow.  I do hope so.  This is super inconvenient, and it does make you a second-class citizen not able to access all the digital tools of today.

Now I really do need to book it.

Bad, Bad Technology Day

Today has been incredibly exasperating.  Somehow I knew this would happen, but it just seemed impossible to avoid the problems.

I should probably start off with an analog problem.  I was going down into the basement to try to measure the belt sander and I saw that over the summer a wasps' nest had been built in the door to the outside.  Obviously, I don't go in and out this way much at all, nor have I been particularly handy over the past couple of months.  That said, it was still extremely shocking!

While I do have somewhat pacifist leanings when it comes to spiders in the house, I do draw the line at mosquitos and roaches and certainly bees and wasps!  I had to go over to the mall anyway for an early morning workout on Sunday, so I stopped off at Home Depot and got wasp spray, along with a board that I'll use to repair the deck (if I can force myself to get around to it this week).  Coming back over the bridge with everything wasn't too much fun.

Sunday itself was not super eventful.  I sprayed the nest, then ran before any wasps came after me.  I'll do this a few times, then try to knock the nest off the door.  I haven't really decided what to do with it, but maybe burn it outside.  I'll also have to look into some foam to spray into the cracks that the wasps came in through.

Then I went downtown to the AGO and then on to work.  I found out that Google Wallet wasn't working, and I uninstalled the app, planning to reinstall it.  Then my phone said I couldn't install Google Wallet at all.  (This led to a very frustrating evening, which spilled over into Monday!)  Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to convince the people at the membership counter to let me in, so I checked out the new video art up on the 5th floor.  Most of it wasn't all that interesting, but there was a compact (for her) piece by Sarah Sze called Disappearing Act.

Down on the 2nd floor, there was an Alex Janvier painting on loan from a private collection.  It was quite nice, and I don't think this was in the McMichael show, but I could be wrong.

Alex Janvier, Smile Shooter (Life's Scrabble Series), 1994

I then spent quite a bit of time at work, trying to get ahead of a big project.  Once again, I did not watch any movies, and I also found out that while I could get Roku working, it wasn't compatible with Netflix.  I think this is because Netflix requires an additional step to verify the account, which this older Roku can't handle.  So this was extremely frustrating.  It either means buying a new Roku (and hoping it will solve this issue) or getting the Bell Streamer hardware, which is sort of a glorified Roku.

I also spent some time looking into the Google Wallet issue.  Apparently, it simply will not work with Android 8 or below, and my phone cannot be upgraded beyond Android 8.  Quite honestly, there really ought to be more laws forbidding this forced obsolescence.

Monday I was still struggling with the phone, wondering if I could still get Canoo to work, since I was hoping to use that to get a free pass to the Aga Khan.  In the end, I was running late, so I opted for a cab to get up there.  (For the near future, I can no longer just take a bus up from Pape Station to the Aga Khan but have to get over to Broadview Station first, which adds close to 15 minutes to the journey...)

The cab ride was $25, which was pretty frustrating, but I did manage to get to the Aga Khan with about 10 minutes to spare before the Kairos Quartet pop-up concert began.  (I actually seen them in a more formal concert at the Toronto Music Garden a week or so ago on the waterfront where they had done Steve Reich's Mallet Quartet and a piece by Vijay Iyer.)  Unfortunately, Canoo only gave me a $10 discount, not a completely free ticket, so the concert ended up costing me $35!  I then found out that they were doing four relatively short pieces (and no Reich), and that they were repeating the exact same set at 1 pm and 3 pm.  Had I know that they weren't mixing things up at all, I could have taken my time (and taken the bus and not cabbed it).  That was a bit frustrating in general but it was still nice seeing them in action, especially as Torq seems to be on hiatus and have stopped performing for the moment at least.  Here is a filmed performance where Kairos are doing Reich's Mallet Quartet.

I did look at the video art exhibit upstairs, which had just opened.  (I had gone over to Aga Khan a few months back to see a play in the courtyard, but that was sadly cancelled due to rain.  The special exhibit wasn't open at that time.)  Here are a few representative pieces.

The downstairs exhibit was still on.  It was the most interesting thing I had seen on my previous visit, so I went down and checked it out again.

Almagul Menlibayeva, Thermonuclear River Basin, 2014

This time I was able to take the bus back, and I even managed to snap a photo of the shuttered Science Centre.  (No idea when they are going to start renaming all the Crosstown stations!)

(And in French for good measure...)

I stayed on transit all the way downtown to the Eaton Centre.  I went over to Hudson's Bay and did find one pair of dress slacks that fit.  Sigh.  I really have pretty much plateaued after some decent weight loss early in the summer, and I suspect the next visit to see the doctor at the clinic will be a drag.  I suppose the only way to really lose the weight is to sleep more regular hours and snack less, neither of which is terribly appealing...  I didn't find any dress shoes that were nice or at least not at a price I was willing to pay.

I ran into the Bell store, but they wanted $80 for this Bell caster, which I thought was absurd.  I'll try to call tomorrow and see if there is a better deal.  I had better luck at Freedom replacing my phone.  However, I made the fatal mistake of upgrading to a Google phone without remembering my Google password.  They generally are not willing to email me the reset codes but are pushing messages to my new phone, which is only partially set up because, you guessed it, I don't remember my Google password.  I think I finally have gotten to a workaround, though they might be resetting my daughter's password, which would be a fiasco.  All of this so that I can reinstall Google Wallet ahead of a few concerts.  So incredibly annoying!  I think the next concert is Thurs., but I can probably send the tickets to my wife, and it is the following week that I absolutely need this back under control.  But there are some other things that I really need my phone working, including this is the only way to get VPN working so I can work from home.  And of course, I now need to transfer over all my contacts, and decide if I really do want to transfer over any text messages, most of which are pretty transient.  It's actually pretty appalling how everything has been consolidated so that without a phone (and sufficient data) you can no longer be part of the modern world.  I absolutely refuse to pay for things with my phone, but there will probably be a further push one day so that it will become next to impossible to opt out.  I now really understand the crank in Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, who goes on and on about missing postcards and postage stamps.  I kind of felt that speech before, but now I am living it!

So definitely not the way I wanted to end (or start) the week...

Edit: I should clarify that the phone does work, and I can make calls and get texts, but without logging into Google Play, then most of the functionality is very limited, and of course the whole point of getting this phone was so I could add Google Wallet back on.

Edit (9/5): There is a place in Gerrard Square that has a pretty big selection of men's dress loafers (and at a fraction of what they were asking at the Bay to say nothing of the outrageous prices Harry Rosen was selling shoes for!), so I'll try to grab a pair over the weekend.