Sneak Peek - August at the Revue

I was a bit afraid this would happen.  Suddenly, the Revue is doing something like 8 straight days of Kurosawa films in early August, though perhaps ironically not Rhapsody in August.

Getting over there is often a chore, but I will do it for truly amazing films, and I expect I'll see most of these, though I can skip Yojimbo, having just seen it at the Revue about a month back (even though this is a better restoration).  I may or may not go out to see Ikiru.  I loved this the first time I saw it, but the second time I found the framing and over-bearing narration to really detract from the film.  Maybe third time's the charm?  I will likely go back to see High and Low, even though I did see this as the Paradise, but really liked it.

Anyway, I don't appear to have too many conflicts, so I will try to make the series.  I remember being a bit upset that I missed Seven Samurai at Carlton, but this will definitely be a better experience, aside from the travel involved.  (On a side note, seeing Ran at the Fox was a real disappointment - they don't have staggered seats and the slope of the theatre is just too flat, so there were always people's heads in the way.  I think I am just done going out to the Fox.  It really is an inferior movie-going experience.)  I just need to work out whether seeing these five or six films (plus Peter Sellars in Being There this Sunday) makes it worthwhile to splurge on a membership at the Revue, despite it being on the other side of town.  Possibly so, though I would need to go to about 17 films/year to make it worthwhile, and I am quite unlikely to take advantage of a free film on my birthday, whereas at the Paradise it is a free film in your birthday month!

I still haven't buckled down and ordered tickets to TO Summer Music Fest or to Fringe, so I need to do that tonight and tomorrow!

Edit (06/23): I ended up buying a few tickets at the Revue Box Office on Sunday, when I was there to see Being There.  I guess I won't get the membership after all.  I'm still a bit on the fence on seeing Ikiru again, but I likely will.  The trickiest decision is The Hidden Fortress on Aug. 1.  I didn't buy a ticket because I had something scribbled on the calendar.  It was a note that I had planned on going to a TO Summer Music concert that evening.  It turns out it is Mendelssohn's Octet, which I like quite a bit.  If the concert was a bit earlier (or the movie later), or even if they were playing the Octet in the first half of the concert, I would try to do both.  However, I have seen the Octet played at least twice before and perhaps more often than that.  (The decision is made just slightly easier because Jonathan Crow isn't actually performing, though I still wish I could somehow do both...)  On balance I think I should go see The Hidden Fortress, which is not screened very often at all and just hope that the Octet pops up in the next couple of years.  And while I am not a huge samurai movie buff, I definitely should see Throne of Blood, which is Kurosawa's remake of Macbeth, and probably Sanjuro as well, which would definitely be a lot of trips over to the Revue.  I just hope it doesn't rain too much in early August...

 

New Fiction

It's always hard to dip my toe back into blogging after some time away.  I actually have (hand)written out 10 or more pages of what I have been up to in the past month or so, but don't feel like typing it out, at least not right now when I still have a lot of pressing business to take care of, even on the weekends.  I used to have a pretty decent voice-to-type program called Dragon.  I am sure by now the technology is so much better than it used to be, and indeed there are probably freeware versions that would be perfectly adequate.  (But before I go too far down this road, I would have to see if I even can get the computer to recognize a pair of headphones (with a microphone!) in order to even test it.)  Something for another day, though it is awfully tempting to just read out all the many pages I have been writing these past few months, most often at the Rex. 

Indeed, I was over at the Rex last night to see Eric St-Laurent for the second time this month.  I only could stay for the first set, so I didn't get to see his "freak-out" number where they compress 15 or more hits into one super fast medley.  (I was joking with him a bit before the show that his versions were an awful lot like Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal," to the point that no one would know if he was riffing off the original or the cover...)  Anyway, they sounded good, though the mike on the congas was too hot, and hopefully they fixed that in the second set.  Still, I was glad to manage to catch them (and write out a few more pages of my planning epic), since I wasn't sure that would have the time.  I was meeting Andrea over at Carlton to see Midnight Cowboy, which I had never seen, even though I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen.  Still, a pretty gritty movie in lots of ways.  Glad to have seen it now (and Taxi Driver not so long ago).  I also was able to stop by Bulk Mine on Yonge and pick up some packets of Quavers for the book club meeting on Monday.  (We're reading Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which is of course also depressing, and we agreed to try to bring British snacks...)

In terms of my reading, I am slowly making my way through Castellanos's The Song of Lamentations, and I made a big push on Dickens's Dombey and Son on Wednesday evening while out at Budweiser Stage to see Simple Minds, as well as Modern English and Soft Cell (the last one being quite boring actually, and I read during their set, aside from during "Tainted Love").  It did sprinkle on and off, particularly during Soft Cell, but it was much better than I was expecting, weather-wise, so that worked out.  However, I didn't want to bring anything aside from a poncho and my phone, so fortunately I was able to get an ebook version of Dombey and Son loaded onto the phone.  I have just over 300 pages to go, so hopefully I can wrap that up by the end of next week.  Some books are worth the extra length, but this one drags a fair bit.  (If only I had managed to get 100 more pages into it on the train ride to Ottawa, then I would really feel I was nearing the finish line.  As an aside, it looks like Via workers aren't going on strike after all.  Yea!)  Getting home from Budweiser Stage was a nightmare, and I wished I had biked there after all, though of course I wouldn't have done that, given the forecast.

 
Anyway, as if I didn't have scads and scads of unread books around the house, but I thought I would highlight just a few novels from this list in today's Guardian.  A handful of them aren't even available to reserve at the library, and if I don't write them down now, I just won't remember them.

These are the ones that are catching my eye:
The Tiger’s Share by Keshava Guha
Gunk by Saba Sams
Dream State by Eric Puchner
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
Endling by Maria Reva (might be interesting to compare to Kurkov's Grey Bees)
Spent by Alison Bechdel (should not take too long to read, as this is a graphic novel)

So perhaps a manageable summer reading list, if I didn't have so many other books I feel guilty about not reading...

 

 

Busy Week Bracketed by Beethoven

I'm not exactly sure what is going on but I have been slipping a lot on Sundays and not getting to the gym when I originally plan to go.  The good news is that I almost always force myself to go, and then it isn't so bad, but then I am running late for everything else I have planned later in the day.  So two Sundays ago, I made it over to the gym, finished packing for my various trips, then took the TTC to Hart House.  Of course, the TTC was quite unreliable as ever, including a bus that then picked up the pace while I was walking between stops.  This is so frustrating.  In the end, I would say the TTC cost me 10 minutes, and I just strolled up to Hart House at 2:35, when I had really planned to get there at 2:15 or so, though as I said I was running just a bit late and didn't set out in time.  Had I made it at 2:25 (a more reasonable target based on when I left), I probably would have gotten tickets to the Hart House Orchestra concert without too much difficulty.  But I was at the very front of the "no ticket" line, and they were trying to convince people to go upstairs to watch a closed circuit version of the concert.  That seemed pretty stupid to me, and I decided I might as well try to get inside.  Had I been much further back, I would have just left and probably tried to work for a couple of hours before my train left.  However, I just waited out and was rewarded with one of the very last wrist bands to get in.  They did Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Beethoven's 5th Symphony.  Always great to hear these live.  I actually briefly talked to my friend David who plays bass with the orchestra, though the musicians themselves (sadly) don't have access to extra tickets.  

After this, I took the subway to Queen St. and picked up some Vietnamese food to go from Ginger.  I dropped in at work and grabbed a huge stack of business cards and printed out a couple of things, including a card for my son, who I was planning on meeting in Ottawa.  Sadly, the train was about 45 minutes late, and it was a bit hard for me to concentrate on my reading while standing (uncomfortably) in line to board.  Not surprisingly, we got to Ottawa close to an hour late.  As it happens, the LRT would have been closed anyway (had we been on time), as it closes at 11 on Sunday evening.  So I took a cab to the Ottawa Hostel.  The driver was reasonably pleasant but he just put the pedal to the metal, trying to get back to the train station for a more lucrative fare.  The hostel was fine, though I really had to get ready for bed in near complete silence, as several people were already sleeping.  (I certainly ran into several people who couldn't believe I would share a room in a hostel, even at such a low, low rate -- $40.)

As it turns out, the hostel was only a block away from the CTRF conference, which was great.  I pretty much rolled out of bed, dressed in a better set of clothes, threw everything in a locker (I had remembered to bring my own lock) and walked over to the conference.  I have to agree, it really does feel a lot like the old TRB (i.e. quite academic) but considerably smaller and still fairly freight and logistics-oriented.  But I enjoyed going, and I'll see if I can go next year when it is in Halifax.  I was able to meet a couple of people from Alto (the agency that will be trying to develop a high speed rail system between Toronto and Quebec City), so that was a big mission accomplished.  My presentation (on ride-sharing systems during and after the pandemic) was in the late afternoon; I think it went well, and I was asked several questions.  Then I went over to the reception, but I had to leave early to meet my son.  We went to an Indian place in Byward Market.

Tues. was pretty much the same thing, though I didn't have as much pressure, since my presentation was over.  I actually left my bag at the hostel, then ducked out from the presentation after lunch and ran over to the Ottawa Art Gallery.  (I didn't even know such a thing existed.  It had a pretty decent exhibit on the 3rd floor of some Group of Seven paintings and some abstract expressionist works.  As it happens, this too is right around the corner from the hostel, so I grabbed my bag and went back to the conference for the workshops after lunch.  I had to skip out just a bit early (only about 15 minutes) and this time I was able to catch the LRT over to Tremblay to catch the VIA train back to Toronto.  Between VIA and TTC, I got home around midnight.

I downloaded the Lyft app on my phone and figured I might as well use it once to get a record of actually using the app, which would help me get rides in LA.  I quickly swapped out my clothes for a new set for my next trip.  I guess I got about 3 hours of sleep, then it was time to get up for my Lyft ride to Pearson.  I ended up sitting next to my boss on the flight, so we talked over some work issues.  I read a bit, but not a lot and did try to get a bit of sleep.  LAX was a bit of a mess per usual, though they were giving out free waffles and iced coffee for some unknown reason.

We then went over to the LA offices and met a few people and talked about some upcoming projects.  I was able to meet up with someone I used to work with in Chicago while at Cambridge Systematics.  We had a good chat, and then I hoofed it back to the office to meet up with a group that was going out for dinner and drinks.  They found a place that had lots of different food vendors under one roof.  While the Mexican was tempting, I ended up at a Thai place that was quite tasty.

Thurs. was mostly an overview of company strategy, though we did take a field trip on the E line out to the site of the Lucas Museum (the one that Chicago and later San Francisco turned down).  We had dinner and drinks on the top floor of the hotel, which was super convenient for those of us staying at the hotel.  Some of the juniors ended up going out to a bar, but I declined.

Friday was only a half day talking about our transportation equity practice, which was interesting and depressing in equal measure (as Trump is trying to squelch anything that even remotely looks progressive or would promote equity).  Then after lunch (which was indeed a sort of Mexican salad), I took a Lyft over to LACMA.  I'll have to circle back and post some photos of the art later.  It turns out that Lyft wouldn't work at all unless I had data roaming turned on, which is pretty annoying.  One strange thing was that they are holding off on producing a new guide to LACMA until the new wing opens (supposedly in April 2026), so I went kind of wild taking photos of almost everything on the 3rd floor.  They even had a room that was completely Picasso paintings (and a few sculptures).  I was worried that the huge David Hockney painting would be off view until the Geffen Wing opened, but it was there on the 3rd floor.

One thing that was a bit worrying was that, after I had taken hundreds of photos at LACMA, my phone battery was dangerously low, and I wasn't sure I would even be able to book (and pay!) the next Lyft driver.  I had to put it on extreme battery saver, but I just managed to make it to a restaurant in Culver City.  The maitre d' was willing to charge it up while we had dinner, which was very accommodating of him.  I was meeting a friend who lives in L.A. with her husband.  We hadn't seen each other since about 2014, when I came down to see Kronos Quartet at UCLA.  The food was fine, though the portions were too small.  I didn't ask, but they did offer to drive me to the airport, and I didn't need a lot of convincing.  I made it through security in plenty of time.  We were all taking the same red eye flight back to Toronto that evening, though this time I didn't sit near my boss.

I got a bit more reading done but mostly tried to sleep.  In the end, over both trips I only read 300 pages of Dombey and Son (though I did get to one major plot twist, which I thought happened a bit too early in the book).  I didn't actually expect to finish the book, though I had wanted to get to 400 pages or so.  I'm going to have to quickly read Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which is a fast read so far, though of course it is pretty depressing.  Then I may sort of alternate chapters of Dombey and Son and The Book of Lamentations.

I guess between a bit of a delay, customs and then UP-Express and the TTC, I didn't actually get home until just a bit before 8 am.  I had my alarm set for 10:30, as I wanted to see the Bach's Keyboard concert, which was part of this year's Bach Fest.  At least the concert was just up on Danforth.  So I saw that, hit No Frills on the way over to the library to pick up a book, and then dropped off some dry cleaning.  I actually biked over to 401 Richmond and looked at a few exhibits there, then came home.  I was actually able to swim a full set of laps, and then I went back out to see the TSO doing a fine version of Beethoven's Symphony 3.  So it was a pretty busy day.  Sunday was not nearly as busy, though I still didn't just stay home and rest, as I surely should have done, but I will write about this week (and some upcoming events) a bit later.

Ciao.