I have mentioned a few times (with increasing dread) that I needed to work on the deck this summer, and indeed I wanted to start this weekend. Saturday was supposed to be a thunderstorm, so I hadn't thought I would really get started until tomorrow. However, it rained very heavily in the morning, then cleared up, so I was able to run quite a few errands (including buying a bunch of things at Home Depot) while the deck dried out. It actually ended up being quite hot, so maybe it wasn't such a terrible thing that I had to run over one more time to Home Depot to get paint rollers to put down the paint stripper. That meant I didn't actually get started until about 7 pm, but the heat finally broke a bit.
In the end, I was out working until 10 pm. It was not a fun chore, and I think while all of the steps are a bit aggravating and dirty, this was probably the worst. (I am still quite sore.) The deck stripper was so powerful that it ate through the plastic tray that I was using. I then had to get on my knees to scrub down the stuff and then rinse it thoroughly with water. Because of the acidity, I could only work in a relatively small area, and because I was worried about running out of time, that meant I generally only left it on for 5-10 minutes, whereas it probably would have worked better had it sat for 20 minutes. Some places the paint came up relatively easily, but in other areas, it doesn't look like it made any difference at all. (At least theoretically, the whole area should respond better to sanding now that this stripper was applied, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow.)
I was really getting discouraged, and I probably would have just bailed, but the guy at Home Depot said it would be a bad idea to leave it sitting overnight, even with the rinsing, since it needed to be neutralized with this deck washing agent. I managed to get that down for 5 minutes or so and then hosed it down (rather than scrubbed and hosed it down). On top of everything else, the hose nozzle broke, so I had to go to the tap multiple times. It was a real chore. If it had been just a bit earlier in the day, I would have had the kids help out, but they were getting ready for bed. Anyway, I think this will be the worst, though I think sanding will also be a dirty chore, but at least I won't be dealing with caustic agents.
Unfortunately, my next door neighbor is having friends over for a BBQ at 3, so I really ought to wrap up by 2:30. And because of noise restrictions, I can't actually start until 11. If things go smoothly, that might be enough time, or it might be enough for the top part, but this is a very large deck! I'll probably only get half done, but perhaps I shouldn't get too discouraged before I've even started...
At one point, I was thinking of just heading out at 3 tomorrow, but I've noticed that I may have a lot of trouble actually staining the deck next week. It is supposed to rain Sunday, and you need 2-3 days without rain to justify putting down the stain or it won't cure properly, so doing the whole job next Sat. just won't work.
So my new agenda is looking something like around 10, do a bit more of the deck wash on the lower part of the deck (fortunately this was only stained not painted). Mow the lawn. Start sanding at 11 and see how quickly or slowly this progresses. Go back to Home Depot to buy the stain at 3. Stain the spindles on the side of the deck away from the neighbor with the BBQ. Call it a day.
I may be able to leave work on time next week and basically get the staining all done by Wed. evening. (That might be cutting it tight in terms of returning these books to Robarts Library, but I'll just see how that goes.) That would be ideal, as there would be lots of time to dry while I am doing other things. I have a TSO concert on Thurs. I'm leaning towards seeing the Much Ado About Nothing in the park on Friday. Then I might actually be able to rest Sat., since I can't do much about the deck if it actually is supposed to rain on the 19th. If it does rain, I hope it is light or falls in the morning and early afternoon, since I am heading down in the late afternoon to check out the Luminato Festival at the Hearn and Tafelmusik, and I would prefer to bike there.
Of course, this all depends on how the sanding goes and whether the stain goes on fairly uniformly. Given everything else that has happened, I probably shouldn't get my hopes up too high. Nonetheless, I think pretty much no matter what happens, I should be done with this job by the end of June, and it should hold up for 4-5 years. Even when stain starts to fade or flake off, it usually doesn't look quite as bad as when a painted deck goes.
I will say that this is probably the last major repair of the year that I will be doing myself. We'll be calling the roofers soon, and then also a carpenter to deal with some stair issues we are having. I know in these cases, it is better to call in the professionals and let them deal with things.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Allergy Season and other thoughts
My thoughts are perhaps just a bit loopier than normal, since I am having more trouble than usual dealing with my allergies. I may have written a while back that I had moderate difficulties with allergies and fairly serious asthma growing up in Michigan. I'm one of only a relatively small number of people who have largely outgrown asthma. (Indeed, some websites say that no one outgrows asthma, but some children have asthma-like symptoms that are caused by some other syndrome or allergic reaction, and that those children can outgrow this asthma-like condition. I think that is splitting hairs a bit. In any case, I am extremely relieved that I did outgrow it, though I am still more prone to respiratory issues when I get sick than most people.) However, it is true that the pollen profile of Toronto seems to match up with Michigan more so than New York or Chicago, which means that I hardly suffered from any allergies in these places, but I do have allergies in Toronto. They still aren't terrible, but I do need to remember to take my antihistamine tablets, and usually only for a week or so. That said, the pollen forecast suggests that we actually only had moderate pollen outbreak this week, when I really noticed my allergies were flaring up, and that this next week is going to be considerable worse. Oh joy. For better or worse, it isn't a surprise that I am susceptible to allergies, since I am outdoors biking to work roughly 3 days a week and consequently am sucking in all kinds of stuff into my lungs, especially car exhaust.
It's still a reasonable trade-off and my general health does seem to be improving, though my legs do feel heavy and I clearly need to stretch more. I am planning to look into adding swimming one or two evenings a week, and I even have a new lock that I can use when I go try out this new rec. center on my way home next week. I still have a long way to go in terms of losing weight, but there is no point in being too harsh on myself.
The blog has hit a major milestone at 50,000 views (trying to adjust for the period when my edits were counting as views). Now how many are real views and how many are just Google scrapes is unclear. This fall I should hit 700 or so posts. I think that would be a good time to see how many posts, particularly the reviews, would be worth collecting into a ebook of sorts. I don't want to spend too much time on it, but it would require some editing and reshaping and deciding which links to keep and which to break. While the art-heavy posts are certainly some of my favorite posts, the whole copyright issue makes it just too fraught to even attempt, so the book would not include those, nor would it include posts that are about upcoming events for example.
I've slowed down on the reading front, mostly because I can't read on the trains 5 days a week. Also, Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle is slow-going, mostly just a lot of detail about places he visited in South America. That's kind of what happens when you read diaries or journals; there isn't much narrative thrust, though I am looking forward to reading along when he reaches the Galapagos Islands. I have passed the point at which I stopped when I first started reading, something on the order of 25 years ago! So from here on out it is all new to me, relatively speaking. I'll persevere, though I may not finish before the summer is over, and I'll probably sneak in a few other books here and there. In a few years, I'll probably tackle the Journals of Lewis and Clark, which will probably feel about the same, though somewhat less detail about animal species. It is somewhat astonishing that I have read just over 100 books off my main reading list since late June 2015, which is considerably faster pace than the year before and the year before that. I'm not sure if this is because I didn't have to take 2 months packing everything up or I was just reading shorter works or I was more inspired by what I was reading to sneak in a few extra minutes each night. Perhaps some combination of all 3. I guess there is some hope that I will read all the books on the reading list and then probably turn my attention to my primary bookcases. I'd like to get through all or essentially all of these books, ideally prior to retirement. Again, I am not talking about all the books in the basement or still in boxes, but the "featured" books upstairs. That's something on the order of 900 books, but I have read roughly 35% of them and would only reread a small portion, which means I'm looking at something like 600 books (though many of them would be crossed off by the time I get through the main TBR list), so this could probably be done in about 10 years. Again, best laid plans and all that...*
Or course, this approach basically guarantees that I won't watch all the movies I have stockpiled, which is something that often concerns me. And of course my own creative writing would suffer. However, I have not given up completely. I should mention that I wrote out Scene 2 of The Pitch. I'm now calling this version The Extended Pitch. You can access it here. While I think Scene 1 is fairly amusing, the payoff comes in the second scene when Vera, a fairly outrageous senior citizen, enters the play. I'm not going to pull it from Sing-for-your-Supper, but this is a case where if they don't take it for next Monday, it might well be better going to Toronto Cold Reads (since I think they would read both parts). I do plan to bundle up a number of things for them and get them out by the end of this week. That will be the point at which I type up the first scene for Straying South (I actually wrote this on the bus to St. Catharines) and then start working on the interior chapters and move forward with The Study Group.
It's looking like the rain will hold off for a while, so I had better go to the hardware store and get the materials I'll need to work on the deck. I'm expecting to start tomorrow and hopefully finish up by next weekend. I had better run.
* Starting tonight, I am planning on reading along with the spoken-word version of Finnegan's Wake. That will take 25 hours, so I'll do it in pieces and should be done by the fall. Towards the end of this year, into next year I am likely to work through quite a few short story collections, alternating between them. After that, I am probably going to work through Joan Didion's and Susan Sontag's non-fictional works.
It's still a reasonable trade-off and my general health does seem to be improving, though my legs do feel heavy and I clearly need to stretch more. I am planning to look into adding swimming one or two evenings a week, and I even have a new lock that I can use when I go try out this new rec. center on my way home next week. I still have a long way to go in terms of losing weight, but there is no point in being too harsh on myself.
The blog has hit a major milestone at 50,000 views (trying to adjust for the period when my edits were counting as views). Now how many are real views and how many are just Google scrapes is unclear. This fall I should hit 700 or so posts. I think that would be a good time to see how many posts, particularly the reviews, would be worth collecting into a ebook of sorts. I don't want to spend too much time on it, but it would require some editing and reshaping and deciding which links to keep and which to break. While the art-heavy posts are certainly some of my favorite posts, the whole copyright issue makes it just too fraught to even attempt, so the book would not include those, nor would it include posts that are about upcoming events for example.
I've slowed down on the reading front, mostly because I can't read on the trains 5 days a week. Also, Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle is slow-going, mostly just a lot of detail about places he visited in South America. That's kind of what happens when you read diaries or journals; there isn't much narrative thrust, though I am looking forward to reading along when he reaches the Galapagos Islands. I have passed the point at which I stopped when I first started reading, something on the order of 25 years ago! So from here on out it is all new to me, relatively speaking. I'll persevere, though I may not finish before the summer is over, and I'll probably sneak in a few other books here and there. In a few years, I'll probably tackle the Journals of Lewis and Clark, which will probably feel about the same, though somewhat less detail about animal species. It is somewhat astonishing that I have read just over 100 books off my main reading list since late June 2015, which is considerably faster pace than the year before and the year before that. I'm not sure if this is because I didn't have to take 2 months packing everything up or I was just reading shorter works or I was more inspired by what I was reading to sneak in a few extra minutes each night. Perhaps some combination of all 3. I guess there is some hope that I will read all the books on the reading list and then probably turn my attention to my primary bookcases. I'd like to get through all or essentially all of these books, ideally prior to retirement. Again, I am not talking about all the books in the basement or still in boxes, but the "featured" books upstairs. That's something on the order of 900 books, but I have read roughly 35% of them and would only reread a small portion, which means I'm looking at something like 600 books (though many of them would be crossed off by the time I get through the main TBR list), so this could probably be done in about 10 years. Again, best laid plans and all that...*
Or course, this approach basically guarantees that I won't watch all the movies I have stockpiled, which is something that often concerns me. And of course my own creative writing would suffer. However, I have not given up completely. I should mention that I wrote out Scene 2 of The Pitch. I'm now calling this version The Extended Pitch. You can access it here. While I think Scene 1 is fairly amusing, the payoff comes in the second scene when Vera, a fairly outrageous senior citizen, enters the play. I'm not going to pull it from Sing-for-your-Supper, but this is a case where if they don't take it for next Monday, it might well be better going to Toronto Cold Reads (since I think they would read both parts). I do plan to bundle up a number of things for them and get them out by the end of this week. That will be the point at which I type up the first scene for Straying South (I actually wrote this on the bus to St. Catharines) and then start working on the interior chapters and move forward with The Study Group.
It's looking like the rain will hold off for a while, so I had better go to the hardware store and get the materials I'll need to work on the deck. I'm expecting to start tomorrow and hopefully finish up by next weekend. I had better run.
* Starting tonight, I am planning on reading along with the spoken-word version of Finnegan's Wake. That will take 25 hours, so I'll do it in pieces and should be done by the fall. Towards the end of this year, into next year I am likely to work through quite a few short story collections, alternating between them. After that, I am probably going to work through Joan Didion's and Susan Sontag's non-fictional works.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
The Personal is Political (The Heidi Chronicles)
I haven't heard the phrase the personal is political in quite a while -- perhaps the mid 90s -- but it sort of sums up the essence of Wendy Wasserstein's work, particularly The Heidi Chronicles, where she looks at how women's life choices (and life chances) were still heavily constrained by a culture (and to a lesser extent a political system) that devalued their contributions. Particularly up through the 70s and perhaps the 80s, women were mostly judged on being wives and mothers and not for their own accomplishments. There are certainly quite a few women (and certainly a lot of global cultures -- just look at how retrograde Turkey is becoming with Erdogan saying that childless women are deficient) that still judge themselves on these terms, but this is less true than before. At least it is less universal. That does not mean that women today are really any more fulfilled than the Boomers that Wasserstein was writing about, and impossible demands are still being made on women, but it does feel there are more options on the table. (I would say that most of the women my age and younger are judged on their careers first and foremost, but what is a constant is the being judged, often unfairly, whereas men are judged but perhaps not in such a one-side manner. Just a thought. What still hasn't changed as much is that when two careers clash, it is usually still the man's whose takes precedence, though this is not as universal as it would have been.)
At any rate, I certainly didn't feel it was a dated piece.* I could certainly see my mother in Heidi to some degree. I'd say that the main characters were roughly 5 years younger than my mother, but they had a fairly similar experience in terms of experiencing the feminist consciousness raising of the 70s and the materialist 80s. It was interesting having a wide range of female characters, most of whom were more in-tune with their times than Heidi. It was interesting that Wasserstein does show Heidi quite blase about gay rights and almost completely disconnected from the AIDS crisis that was sort of the dark shadow of the 80s and early 90s. In the spirit of still "wanting it all," she adopts a baby in her early 40s. What is somewhat radical about her and certainly sets her apart from most of the other women in the show is that Heidi only obsesses about one man (Scooter) and is finally able to disentangle herself from him romantically, but from that point on, her boyfriends are almost entirely incidental to her life and she never even mentions them unless pressed by Scooter. It seems completely impossible for her to find a serious partner who will not get in the way of her career. I guess I wouldn't characterize this as a must-see play, but I thought it was well-done and it did fill me with nostalgia for the 80s, which for me at least, were a relatively uncomplicated period in my life.
I was running late from a work obligation and had to cab it to Soulpepper. I actually had a fairly bad headache, though it started to subside after I made it to the theatre. I imagine it was a combination of a lot going on at work and worry that I would be late. I saw a tall man hanging out by the box office and realized he was the actor playing the Major in Incident at Vichy. I thought that was kind of odd, and then I saw another actor from the show. It dawned on me somewhat later that because Incident at Vichy starts 30 minutes later than The Heidi Chronicles (and the costumes and make-up are fairly minimal) that they just had some time to kill before going backstage.
I talked very briefly with the second actor, Marcel Stewart. He has only a very small role in Vichy, though I presume a larger role in Father Comes Home From the Wars a bit later in the season. I said that I had seen the show and thought it was great. We briefly talked about how most performances were sold out, which must be incredible for him and the rest of the cast. I said how I was trying to see all the major Arthur Miller plays, and he asked if I was going to see All My Sons at Stratford. I said probably not, since I didn't want to confuse it with a good production I had already seen (Shattered Globe in Chicago). And this is true, though I also happen to think the casting was problematic. I'm debating discussing what I mean in a separate post. At any rate, I didn't mention that to Marcel and just said I was hoping A View from the Bridge turned up soon.
What I also didn't mention is that I knew his face was familiar when he came out on stage in Vichy, but I couldn't quite place it. After some searching, I realized that he was in Dalton and Company, which I liked very much (though I only discussed the show in a perfunctory way -- perhaps some point I will get back to it, though probably not) and he had a secondary role as Agamemnon's lieutenant in a Fringe production of Agamemnon. I'll be very interested to see what he does in Father Comes Home From the Wars, but I'd say he is definitely an actor to watch, as he was very good in Dalton and Company.
* One thing that might have gone over better when the script was new was Heidi's speech to her grammar school as a featured alumnae. We could certainly feel her pain and uncertainty and unhappiness about being judged by other women in a gym locker room (how 80s) and judging back, but it made her look weak and diminished her, rather than making her seem forthright and speaking some important but painful truths. But more to the point, I would have felt extremely disrespected to have heard such a meandering speech given by such an unprepared speaker (though this might be more of an issue for the staff than the kids who are generally pretty indifferent to speakers). So that bit, I would definitely have cut or significantly reshaped.
At any rate, I certainly didn't feel it was a dated piece.* I could certainly see my mother in Heidi to some degree. I'd say that the main characters were roughly 5 years younger than my mother, but they had a fairly similar experience in terms of experiencing the feminist consciousness raising of the 70s and the materialist 80s. It was interesting having a wide range of female characters, most of whom were more in-tune with their times than Heidi. It was interesting that Wasserstein does show Heidi quite blase about gay rights and almost completely disconnected from the AIDS crisis that was sort of the dark shadow of the 80s and early 90s. In the spirit of still "wanting it all," she adopts a baby in her early 40s. What is somewhat radical about her and certainly sets her apart from most of the other women in the show is that Heidi only obsesses about one man (Scooter) and is finally able to disentangle herself from him romantically, but from that point on, her boyfriends are almost entirely incidental to her life and she never even mentions them unless pressed by Scooter. It seems completely impossible for her to find a serious partner who will not get in the way of her career. I guess I wouldn't characterize this as a must-see play, but I thought it was well-done and it did fill me with nostalgia for the 80s, which for me at least, were a relatively uncomplicated period in my life.
I was running late from a work obligation and had to cab it to Soulpepper. I actually had a fairly bad headache, though it started to subside after I made it to the theatre. I imagine it was a combination of a lot going on at work and worry that I would be late. I saw a tall man hanging out by the box office and realized he was the actor playing the Major in Incident at Vichy. I thought that was kind of odd, and then I saw another actor from the show. It dawned on me somewhat later that because Incident at Vichy starts 30 minutes later than The Heidi Chronicles (and the costumes and make-up are fairly minimal) that they just had some time to kill before going backstage.
I talked very briefly with the second actor, Marcel Stewart. He has only a very small role in Vichy, though I presume a larger role in Father Comes Home From the Wars a bit later in the season. I said that I had seen the show and thought it was great. We briefly talked about how most performances were sold out, which must be incredible for him and the rest of the cast. I said how I was trying to see all the major Arthur Miller plays, and he asked if I was going to see All My Sons at Stratford. I said probably not, since I didn't want to confuse it with a good production I had already seen (Shattered Globe in Chicago). And this is true, though I also happen to think the casting was problematic. I'm debating discussing what I mean in a separate post. At any rate, I didn't mention that to Marcel and just said I was hoping A View from the Bridge turned up soon.
What I also didn't mention is that I knew his face was familiar when he came out on stage in Vichy, but I couldn't quite place it. After some searching, I realized that he was in Dalton and Company, which I liked very much (though I only discussed the show in a perfunctory way -- perhaps some point I will get back to it, though probably not) and he had a secondary role as Agamemnon's lieutenant in a Fringe production of Agamemnon. I'll be very interested to see what he does in Father Comes Home From the Wars, but I'd say he is definitely an actor to watch, as he was very good in Dalton and Company.
* One thing that might have gone over better when the script was new was Heidi's speech to her grammar school as a featured alumnae. We could certainly feel her pain and uncertainty and unhappiness about being judged by other women in a gym locker room (how 80s) and judging back, but it made her look weak and diminished her, rather than making her seem forthright and speaking some important but painful truths. But more to the point, I would have felt extremely disrespected to have heard such a meandering speech given by such an unprepared speaker (though this might be more of an issue for the staff than the kids who are generally pretty indifferent to speakers). So that bit, I would definitely have cut or significantly reshaped.
Monday, June 6, 2016
Incident at Vichy (Soulpepper)
As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I was away from Chicago when a solid production of Incident at Vichy was produced, and I have been looking forward to the Soulpepper production for around 6 months, since I first heard the season announced. Sometimes one can have expectations that are too high, but in this case, Soulpepper definitely delivered the goods. To cut to the chase, this is a very good production and I would definitely recommend it (the Slotkin Letter also has a very positive review). I actually saw this a few days before Coal Mine's Instructions, but I noticed that the next few shows at Soulpepper were sold out and the Coal Mine review might be more useful for people making last minute decisions. At any rate, Incident at Vichy runs to June 23, and there are still tickets for the second half of the run, so I would encourage anyone interested to book soon. (I suppose there is a chance they will extend the production, but I wouldn't count on it.*)
At this point, the last major Miller I still need to see is A View from the Bridge, so I'll be keeping my eyes out for that one. (At the moment, there are no upcoming productions near me or near my potential vacation spots. If the one in Minneapolis was moved up a few months, I probably would find a way to get out there...)
The setting is stark and minimalist. The set is basically a bench upon which nine men are squeezed, waiting to be interrogated in an office. The audience cannot see behind that office door. Likewise, there is one other exit guarded by one guard (a fact which becomes salient midway through the play). Like many Miller plays, the characters are only barely characters, but rather mouthpieces for different political views that are thrown together. In this case at least, one can imagine that the stress and general isolation from society might well lead people to forgo their social conventions and speak their minds. What certainly does work well is that one or two of the characters can't help themselves from spreading rumors about what is happening to Jews that have been rounded up in un-Occupied France, while another argues that "there are rules" and that the Nazis cannot just break them with impunity. The Austrian prince Von Berg argues convincingly that the Nazis are so successful precisely because they do what others cannot imagine: "it paralyzes the rest of us." He goes on later to say that they (the Nazis) they are almost artists of a sort: "If you despise Jews the most honest thing is to burn them up. And the fact that it costs money, and uses up trains and personnel--this only guarantees the integrity, the purity, the existence of their feelings. They would even tell you that only a Jew would think of the cost."
While Von Berg generally has the best lines and effectively counters the optimism of Bayard, an electrician with Communist views, there is also good interplay between the actor Monceau and Leduc, a one-time psychologist and war veteran. While Miller never comes out and directly name-checks Freud's death drive, it is quite clear that Leduc believes that Monceau (and Jews more generally) acted in ways that were very self-destructive. (Right at the start of the play, the painter Lebeau complains bitterly that his family was set to leave France for America but his mother wouldn't leave behind her furniture!) Towards the end of the play, Von Berg and Leduc have an extended series of exchanges that lead to the existential questions of whether one person would (or should) sacrifice him- or herself for another and under what conditions might this occur. These are difficult questions, and one cannot really know how heroic one would or would not be. I would likely not sacrifice myself for anyone other than my children, but if it was a situation that called for bravery but not self-sacrifice, I might acquit myself better.
Diego Matamoros more or less steals the show as Von Berg, but really all the actors are fine. I am quite astounded that Matamoros is not only playing this part but has a lead role in The Odd Couple at the exact same time. That's pretty impressive. I've seen him in quite a few roles already, and it turns out he is a founding member of Soulpepper and has acted in every single season. I guess he is sort of the equivalent of Francis Guinan at Steppenwolf, whom I was seeing in almost everything for a few seasons (now Guinan is back to one or two plays a season).
The play itself is a taut 90 minutes. On leaving the play, I heard someone in the audience bemoan "What's upsetting is that it doesn't feel dated at all." This is certainly true, though in one sense it is easier for us to demonize the Taliban or ISIS since they are so thoroughly anti-art and anti-humanist as well. While the Nazis were generally vulgar (and had bad table manners according to Von Berg), they also did genuinely appreciate middle-brow art and music, so it was somewhat harder to make them into monsters (at least until the full horror of what they did was revealed towards the end of the war). While you probably won't be uplifted at the end of this play, it does leave you with a lot to think about, including the parallels with current events.
* It appears they added 2 dates - June 24 and 25, but no extensions beyond that.
At this point, the last major Miller I still need to see is A View from the Bridge, so I'll be keeping my eyes out for that one. (At the moment, there are no upcoming productions near me or near my potential vacation spots. If the one in Minneapolis was moved up a few months, I probably would find a way to get out there...)
The setting is stark and minimalist. The set is basically a bench upon which nine men are squeezed, waiting to be interrogated in an office. The audience cannot see behind that office door. Likewise, there is one other exit guarded by one guard (a fact which becomes salient midway through the play). Like many Miller plays, the characters are only barely characters, but rather mouthpieces for different political views that are thrown together. In this case at least, one can imagine that the stress and general isolation from society might well lead people to forgo their social conventions and speak their minds. What certainly does work well is that one or two of the characters can't help themselves from spreading rumors about what is happening to Jews that have been rounded up in un-Occupied France, while another argues that "there are rules" and that the Nazis cannot just break them with impunity. The Austrian prince Von Berg argues convincingly that the Nazis are so successful precisely because they do what others cannot imagine: "it paralyzes the rest of us." He goes on later to say that they (the Nazis) they are almost artists of a sort: "If you despise Jews the most honest thing is to burn them up. And the fact that it costs money, and uses up trains and personnel--this only guarantees the integrity, the purity, the existence of their feelings. They would even tell you that only a Jew would think of the cost."
While Von Berg generally has the best lines and effectively counters the optimism of Bayard, an electrician with Communist views, there is also good interplay between the actor Monceau and Leduc, a one-time psychologist and war veteran. While Miller never comes out and directly name-checks Freud's death drive, it is quite clear that Leduc believes that Monceau (and Jews more generally) acted in ways that were very self-destructive. (Right at the start of the play, the painter Lebeau complains bitterly that his family was set to leave France for America but his mother wouldn't leave behind her furniture!) Towards the end of the play, Von Berg and Leduc have an extended series of exchanges that lead to the existential questions of whether one person would (or should) sacrifice him- or herself for another and under what conditions might this occur. These are difficult questions, and one cannot really know how heroic one would or would not be. I would likely not sacrifice myself for anyone other than my children, but if it was a situation that called for bravery but not self-sacrifice, I might acquit myself better.
Diego Matamoros more or less steals the show as Von Berg, but really all the actors are fine. I am quite astounded that Matamoros is not only playing this part but has a lead role in The Odd Couple at the exact same time. That's pretty impressive. I've seen him in quite a few roles already, and it turns out he is a founding member of Soulpepper and has acted in every single season. I guess he is sort of the equivalent of Francis Guinan at Steppenwolf, whom I was seeing in almost everything for a few seasons (now Guinan is back to one or two plays a season).
The play itself is a taut 90 minutes. On leaving the play, I heard someone in the audience bemoan "What's upsetting is that it doesn't feel dated at all." This is certainly true, though in one sense it is easier for us to demonize the Taliban or ISIS since they are so thoroughly anti-art and anti-humanist as well. While the Nazis were generally vulgar (and had bad table manners according to Von Berg), they also did genuinely appreciate middle-brow art and music, so it was somewhat harder to make them into monsters (at least until the full horror of what they did was revealed towards the end of the war). While you probably won't be uplifted at the end of this play, it does leave you with a lot to think about, including the parallels with current events.
* It appears they added 2 dates - June 24 and 25, but no extensions beyond that.
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Abolishing Christmas (at Coal Mine Theatre)
I was able to bike over to Coal Mine (at 1454 Danforth) and got there twenty minutes before the show started. The show in question is Michael Mackenzie's Instructions (to Any Future Socialist Government Wishing to Abolish Christmas). Since they weren't sold out, I was able to get a rush ticket (score!).* I'm not going to link to the Star review While it was a positive review, it wasn't a rave like I think the play deserves, and I think the review is too spoiler-y. I do think/hope that word of mouth is going to build fairly quickly for this play, and if you are interested, book tickets soon (starting here). It only runs through June 19.
Even the next 2 sentences might have too many SPOILERS
You should see this play if you were somewhat tuned in to the economic collapse of 2008/9 and really want to see a hedge fund manager come to grief and/or you appreciate modern adaptations of the true classics. It reminded me a lot of Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched (which I thought was shattering and amazing at the same time), though on a less global scale and perhaps slightly less dark or at least with far more humorous dialogue throughout. Even this comparison may be saying too much.
I'll discuss the play in a bit more detail, while trying to avoid major SPOILERS
The play opens with Jason, the hedge fund manager, taking out his frustrations on a punching bag in his office. He is not aware Cass has entered. It becomes apparent that she had some "episode" at work and was sent off for therapy. What is more interesting is that she was almost non-verbal before (an even more extreme version of the character Dustin Hoffman played in Rain Man) and now she has found a way to communicate her inner thoughts, albeit with a lot of ticks and odd repetitions. It turns out that some of the repeated phrases carry much more weight after the final revelation of the play. (And this is a bit of a side issue, but there will probably be some critics who cringe at watching another able-bodied actor playing an autistic savant. This didn't bother me too much, but the tics could be a bit much at times.)
In any event, Jason tries to enter into a kind of negotiation with her where she will help him get through an important phone call (even the fact she can talk on the phone is considered a huge breakthrough!) with his main banker in exchange for more communication with him about her issues. I will say that her motives do seem to shift throughout the play, since at one point she seems to relish being valued by Jason and thinks she can salvage the business, but this isn't where she lands at the end. Perhaps his utter crassness throughout the play just left her completely disillusioned.
While I could certainly buy her facility with numbers,** there is some other point where she points out a subtle legal loophole that may prove to be the fund's undoing. It would be extremely unlikely for someone who was so heavily into the number-side of things to pick that up or understand the implications, but it wasn't a fatal flaw in the play. After all, she has been reading up on history to try to understand how events are connected together, starting with Thucydides. She is certainly trying to expand her area of interest/analysis, though Jason still is only interested in her financial analyses. (In some ways, this play reminded me a bit of Pi by Aronofsky, though Pi has a better soundtrack...)
The one other thing that I found notable is that Cass kept referencing Back to the Future (apparently Ronald Reagan was a big fan though it probably wasn't literally his favorite movie as Cass said). I'll take this as a sign to keep going on The Study Group, which riffs just a bit on Back to the Future. (I'm still trying to work out just how far to push it, but usually the further the better.)
It was a pretty dark play by the end, and I'm not sure I really got my full dose of catharsis, but I would certainly recommend this production.
* This partly, though not entirely, makes up for getting screwed out of tickets for the Hip's last show in Toronto. It would be nice if the outrage is so sustained that Ontario backtracks and reinstates some of their anti-scalping legislation. At any rate, I am glad I went and saw them on the Fully Completely tour. For my tastes, that was probably the better tour to see, though if CBC does broadcast one of the shows on this final tour, I certainly will tune in.
** I don't have anything like this mathematical ability, but I do spend a lot of my time building mathematical models, and you sometimes get a feel for what the data is trying to tell you, and you try to work within certain frameworks to shape the models so that the results are robust and yet the equations feeding the model represent logical connections between the data. I'm fairly good with the standard logit models up through nested logit models. I'm not clever enough to construct the models that use latent-class variables or some of the cross-nested logit models. On the other hand, I do have a good feel for the adjustment factors that then need to be applied to get the models to replicate real-world data during model calibration. Still, this is only small potatoes compared to what a true mathematical genius can handle.
Even the next 2 sentences might have too many SPOILERS
You should see this play if you were somewhat tuned in to the economic collapse of 2008/9 and really want to see a hedge fund manager come to grief and/or you appreciate modern adaptations of the true classics. It reminded me a lot of Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched (which I thought was shattering and amazing at the same time), though on a less global scale and perhaps slightly less dark or at least with far more humorous dialogue throughout. Even this comparison may be saying too much.
I'll discuss the play in a bit more detail, while trying to avoid major SPOILERS
The play opens with Jason, the hedge fund manager, taking out his frustrations on a punching bag in his office. He is not aware Cass has entered. It becomes apparent that she had some "episode" at work and was sent off for therapy. What is more interesting is that she was almost non-verbal before (an even more extreme version of the character Dustin Hoffman played in Rain Man) and now she has found a way to communicate her inner thoughts, albeit with a lot of ticks and odd repetitions. It turns out that some of the repeated phrases carry much more weight after the final revelation of the play. (And this is a bit of a side issue, but there will probably be some critics who cringe at watching another able-bodied actor playing an autistic savant. This didn't bother me too much, but the tics could be a bit much at times.)
In any event, Jason tries to enter into a kind of negotiation with her where she will help him get through an important phone call (even the fact she can talk on the phone is considered a huge breakthrough!) with his main banker in exchange for more communication with him about her issues. I will say that her motives do seem to shift throughout the play, since at one point she seems to relish being valued by Jason and thinks she can salvage the business, but this isn't where she lands at the end. Perhaps his utter crassness throughout the play just left her completely disillusioned.
While I could certainly buy her facility with numbers,** there is some other point where she points out a subtle legal loophole that may prove to be the fund's undoing. It would be extremely unlikely for someone who was so heavily into the number-side of things to pick that up or understand the implications, but it wasn't a fatal flaw in the play. After all, she has been reading up on history to try to understand how events are connected together, starting with Thucydides. She is certainly trying to expand her area of interest/analysis, though Jason still is only interested in her financial analyses. (In some ways, this play reminded me a bit of Pi by Aronofsky, though Pi has a better soundtrack...)
The one other thing that I found notable is that Cass kept referencing Back to the Future (apparently Ronald Reagan was a big fan though it probably wasn't literally his favorite movie as Cass said). I'll take this as a sign to keep going on The Study Group, which riffs just a bit on Back to the Future. (I'm still trying to work out just how far to push it, but usually the further the better.)
It was a pretty dark play by the end, and I'm not sure I really got my full dose of catharsis, but I would certainly recommend this production.
* This partly, though not entirely, makes up for getting screwed out of tickets for the Hip's last show in Toronto. It would be nice if the outrage is so sustained that Ontario backtracks and reinstates some of their anti-scalping legislation. At any rate, I am glad I went and saw them on the Fully Completely tour. For my tastes, that was probably the better tour to see, though if CBC does broadcast one of the shows on this final tour, I certainly will tune in.
** I don't have anything like this mathematical ability, but I do spend a lot of my time building mathematical models, and you sometimes get a feel for what the data is trying to tell you, and you try to work within certain frameworks to shape the models so that the results are robust and yet the equations feeding the model represent logical connections between the data. I'm fairly good with the standard logit models up through nested logit models. I'm not clever enough to construct the models that use latent-class variables or some of the cross-nested logit models. On the other hand, I do have a good feel for the adjustment factors that then need to be applied to get the models to replicate real-world data during model calibration. Still, this is only small potatoes compared to what a true mathematical genius can handle.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Filling up the Calendar pt. 2 (the Fringe and beyond)
This is basically a continuation of this post. I think I will try to run by tonight and tomorrow to see if I can get rush tickets to the Coal Mine show. If that doesn't work, I'll book something for next weekend, although that is also the weekend I expect to get serious about fixing up the deck.
Let me start with some other events that have popped up the radar and then get around to the Fringe. First, I am starting to hear more and more about Luminato and their new space at the Hearn. I definitely need to get out there, and check out the art gallery. I'm still not sold on the James plays, and I think I'll pass on them. Maybe that is a mistake, but I am just not "feeling it." I can tell what I do and don't want to spend my time on, and frankly this just seems such a blatant rip-off of Shakespeare's Henry cycle that I can't be bothered.
In general, I am far more tempted by the music events at Luminato but not by the theatre events. I am tempted by the TSO concert on the 21st, where they are doing Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Gershwin's American in Paris. On the other hand, I saw the TSO doing Beethoven's 5th right at the start of the season, so I think I can hold off from seeing it for another year or so. In addition, I am already out two days that week. I might go see Tafelmusik doing a short one-hour show on the 19th. I haven't totally made up my mind. Tafelmusik is doing a few free shows this summer, so that is worth checking out as well. More information here. It looks like the first free concert is next Monday, but I'll probably pass and just buy a ticket for the 19th. On top of everything else, I am still hoping to hear that my piece was accepted for Sing-for-your-Supper, which would also be next Monday.*
I have to admit that I sort of dropped the ball on TIFF Lightbox. I actually did manage to see both Chi-raq and High Rise, but didn't use some free passes, which look to expire at the end of June. There is an interesting series they are doing of Shakespeare on film. Sadly, I will have to pass on Chimes at Midnight. I am tempted to go see Ran again, but I probably won't. In the end, I may only go see Hamlet Goes Business on July 1, which is pretty obscure, though I actually do have it on DVD from Artificial Eye, so I guess if I just can't make it, there is a fall-back. Anyway, this summer/early fall TIFF is doing two great retrospectives: Hitchcock/Truffaut and Eric Rohmer, so I'll try to see a handful of films from each, even if I can't use those free passes.
A little bit further away (or even a lot further), it appears that Alumnae has settled on their 2016-17 season. In this post, I speculated on what Alumnae would open with, and they have settled on Gibson's This. I'm certainly more likely to see This than How I Learned to Drive (which I am boycotting), but I wish it had been Wade's Colder Than Here instead of This. On the other hand, they are doing Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House, which I just missed seeing in Chicago. I don't think this is a stone-cold classic, but it's still worth seeing once. It is much harder to find out anything about the Toronto Irish Players (the main co-tenants with Alumnae), but it appears their next production will be Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, and I'll probably go see that.
While I am rarely that interested in Mirvish productions per se, they do occasionally team up with companies that do interest me, such as Studio 180. Next Feb., they are putting on the gay-themed comedy (?) My Night with Reg by Kevin Elyot. After giving it some thought, I expect I'll end up going to this.
Ok, finally, I am ready to discuss the Fringe. The current program guide is here. At first glance, I am a bit less interested than last year, though there are a few things that stand out. I am the most likely to see Shakespeare Bash'd doing The Comedy of Errors, since it is apparently the last time they will do Fringe. (I saw them last year doing The Merry Wives of Windsor, and it was very good.) I am not quite sure what they will do after this, though I will make an effort to catch their staged reading of Middleton's The Changeling.)
There is also a site-specific piece (or rather trilogy) of short plays by Beckett, Strindberg and Julie Tepperman (one of these things is not like the others...). That looks like it might be worth seeing, as well as Weird: the Witches of Macbeth. There's another adaptation of The Comedy of Errors called A Glass Hive, but I'm not sure I really need to see the same play twice in the same Fringe. In terms of other productions of plays by established playwrights, they are doing Caryl Churchill's Far Away, which I've seen before. I probably will pass. There is a bizarre play called Cowboy Mouth written by (and originally performed by) Sam Shepard and Patti Smith. I'll check out the reviews, but this seems a bit strange for my tastes.
There are lots of more typical fringe-type plays: one-act monologues and two-handers. Of the new plays, I am most likely to see Bright Lights by Kat Sanders. I'll probably go through the list one more time to see if there is anything else that grips me or at least intrigues me a little. It looks like I am hovering at 4 plays, at which point it isn't quite worth getting the festival pass, especially as so many shows sell out, so you have to pay extra to get the pass and then reserve specific dates.
So there you go. When you add in Shakespeare in High Park, then the events in Withrow Park, it looks like I have more or less booked up the summer (and a bit beyond).
* Oops, the SFYS in June was moved to June 13. I could go off to Tafelmusik without any conflict. I'm a bit torn as to what to do, and I may end up letting the weather determine my evening plans.
Let me start with some other events that have popped up the radar and then get around to the Fringe. First, I am starting to hear more and more about Luminato and their new space at the Hearn. I definitely need to get out there, and check out the art gallery. I'm still not sold on the James plays, and I think I'll pass on them. Maybe that is a mistake, but I am just not "feeling it." I can tell what I do and don't want to spend my time on, and frankly this just seems such a blatant rip-off of Shakespeare's Henry cycle that I can't be bothered.
In general, I am far more tempted by the music events at Luminato but not by the theatre events. I am tempted by the TSO concert on the 21st, where they are doing Beethoven's 5th Symphony and Gershwin's American in Paris. On the other hand, I saw the TSO doing Beethoven's 5th right at the start of the season, so I think I can hold off from seeing it for another year or so. In addition, I am already out two days that week. I might go see Tafelmusik doing a short one-hour show on the 19th. I haven't totally made up my mind. Tafelmusik is doing a few free shows this summer, so that is worth checking out as well. More information here. It looks like the first free concert is next Monday, but I'll probably pass and just buy a ticket for the 19th. On top of everything else, I am still hoping to hear that my piece was accepted for Sing-for-your-Supper, which would also be next Monday.*
I have to admit that I sort of dropped the ball on TIFF Lightbox. I actually did manage to see both Chi-raq and High Rise, but didn't use some free passes, which look to expire at the end of June. There is an interesting series they are doing of Shakespeare on film. Sadly, I will have to pass on Chimes at Midnight. I am tempted to go see Ran again, but I probably won't. In the end, I may only go see Hamlet Goes Business on July 1, which is pretty obscure, though I actually do have it on DVD from Artificial Eye, so I guess if I just can't make it, there is a fall-back. Anyway, this summer/early fall TIFF is doing two great retrospectives: Hitchcock/Truffaut and Eric Rohmer, so I'll try to see a handful of films from each, even if I can't use those free passes.
A little bit further away (or even a lot further), it appears that Alumnae has settled on their 2016-17 season. In this post, I speculated on what Alumnae would open with, and they have settled on Gibson's This. I'm certainly more likely to see This than How I Learned to Drive (which I am boycotting), but I wish it had been Wade's Colder Than Here instead of This. On the other hand, they are doing Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House, which I just missed seeing in Chicago. I don't think this is a stone-cold classic, but it's still worth seeing once. It is much harder to find out anything about the Toronto Irish Players (the main co-tenants with Alumnae), but it appears their next production will be Outside Mullingar by John Patrick Shanley, and I'll probably go see that.
While I am rarely that interested in Mirvish productions per se, they do occasionally team up with companies that do interest me, such as Studio 180. Next Feb., they are putting on the gay-themed comedy (?) My Night with Reg by Kevin Elyot. After giving it some thought, I expect I'll end up going to this.
Ok, finally, I am ready to discuss the Fringe. The current program guide is here. At first glance, I am a bit less interested than last year, though there are a few things that stand out. I am the most likely to see Shakespeare Bash'd doing The Comedy of Errors, since it is apparently the last time they will do Fringe. (I saw them last year doing The Merry Wives of Windsor, and it was very good.) I am not quite sure what they will do after this, though I will make an effort to catch their staged reading of Middleton's The Changeling.)
There is also a site-specific piece (or rather trilogy) of short plays by Beckett, Strindberg and Julie Tepperman (one of these things is not like the others...). That looks like it might be worth seeing, as well as Weird: the Witches of Macbeth. There's another adaptation of The Comedy of Errors called A Glass Hive, but I'm not sure I really need to see the same play twice in the same Fringe. In terms of other productions of plays by established playwrights, they are doing Caryl Churchill's Far Away, which I've seen before. I probably will pass. There is a bizarre play called Cowboy Mouth written by (and originally performed by) Sam Shepard and Patti Smith. I'll check out the reviews, but this seems a bit strange for my tastes.
There are lots of more typical fringe-type plays: one-act monologues and two-handers. Of the new plays, I am most likely to see Bright Lights by Kat Sanders. I'll probably go through the list one more time to see if there is anything else that grips me or at least intrigues me a little. It looks like I am hovering at 4 plays, at which point it isn't quite worth getting the festival pass, especially as so many shows sell out, so you have to pay extra to get the pass and then reserve specific dates.
So there you go. When you add in Shakespeare in High Park, then the events in Withrow Park, it looks like I have more or less booked up the summer (and a bit beyond).
* Oops, the SFYS in June was moved to June 13. I could go off to Tafelmusik without any conflict. I'm a bit torn as to what to do, and I may end up letting the weather determine my evening plans.
Postage-stamp yard
There are some advantages to having a small yard, namely that I don't have to spend too much time on it. This morning I got the mowing done in about 10 minutes and another 10 or so for watering some of the plants that we planted a couple of weeks ago. I had certainly hoped it would rain, and it was supposed to last Thurs., but it didn't. Currently, they are saying that it will rain Sunday and probably Monday. After that, I think the plants will be one their own: either the roots will settle in or they won't. Actually, I feel a mild allergy attack coming on, and I'll go out and grab some antihistamines, and perhaps some potting soil. But that is basically it as far as how much I want to be gardening this year. I spent far too much of my youth mowing the lawn and weeding a fairly large garden.
There aren't even that many houses on the block with grass in the front. We're probably one of five on our side of the street. On the other hand, our back yard is 85% porch (and that will be a fairly substantial effort this summer to restain it but I am not going to do that this weekend) and the rest is a great big tree and a number of ferns that don't really need watering. So it is low-maintenance, which I appreciate greatly.
We're starting to settle into the neighbourhood. My son plays outside with some other kids on the block almost every day, which is great. It wouldn't have been at all unusual back when I was growing up (and there were very few helicopter parents), but far too many kids today spend nearly all their time inside on computers or watching TV. My daughter has started to socialize a bit more as well, and has gotten into several water gun fights and so forth. Her school friends are just a bit further away, but one is within walking distance, so perhaps they will play a little bit over the summer.
I'm starting to feel like a real Torontonian with one foot on the property ladder, though not quite as firmly as I would have liked. I have the Toronto Star delivered on weekends, and I put the books on hold after they are reviewed in the Star. (I did beat out a lot of people on Han Kang's The Vegetarian, since I signed up right before it won the Booker International Prize.) If I did vote, it would be with the prevailing party: the closest to Liberal that had a reasonable chance of winning. I would even have voted for John Tory over Olivia Chow, and I would do so again. In short, a pretty middle-of-the-road Torontonian. This city does feel like a place I can finally put down roots.
Anyway, the big news is that our neighbourhood will probably be impacted by the Downtown Relief Line. I am not that worried about it, since I don't think the city has the money to start anything until at least another 8 years. Still, it is exciting in a way, though I am sure I will be cursing the construction disruptions when (or if) they ever get started. We are far enough from the route that expropriations of property on our street are extremely unlikely, but again, it is way too early for the city to make any firm commitments one way or the other.
I think I'll head out and do some reading on the porch before it gets too hot today.
There aren't even that many houses on the block with grass in the front. We're probably one of five on our side of the street. On the other hand, our back yard is 85% porch (and that will be a fairly substantial effort this summer to restain it but I am not going to do that this weekend) and the rest is a great big tree and a number of ferns that don't really need watering. So it is low-maintenance, which I appreciate greatly.
We're starting to settle into the neighbourhood. My son plays outside with some other kids on the block almost every day, which is great. It wouldn't have been at all unusual back when I was growing up (and there were very few helicopter parents), but far too many kids today spend nearly all their time inside on computers or watching TV. My daughter has started to socialize a bit more as well, and has gotten into several water gun fights and so forth. Her school friends are just a bit further away, but one is within walking distance, so perhaps they will play a little bit over the summer.
I'm starting to feel like a real Torontonian with one foot on the property ladder, though not quite as firmly as I would have liked. I have the Toronto Star delivered on weekends, and I put the books on hold after they are reviewed in the Star. (I did beat out a lot of people on Han Kang's The Vegetarian, since I signed up right before it won the Booker International Prize.) If I did vote, it would be with the prevailing party: the closest to Liberal that had a reasonable chance of winning. I would even have voted for John Tory over Olivia Chow, and I would do so again. In short, a pretty middle-of-the-road Torontonian. This city does feel like a place I can finally put down roots.
Anyway, the big news is that our neighbourhood will probably be impacted by the Downtown Relief Line. I am not that worried about it, since I don't think the city has the money to start anything until at least another 8 years. Still, it is exciting in a way, though I am sure I will be cursing the construction disruptions when (or if) they ever get started. We are far enough from the route that expropriations of property on our street are extremely unlikely, but again, it is way too early for the city to make any firm commitments one way or the other.
I think I'll head out and do some reading on the porch before it gets too hot today.
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