The return of the ten-dollar word

I've been coming across quite a few odd words lately, especially in Freud's write-up of Dora.  In his case, he often used medical terminology in a way that is no longer current, so I am hesitant to include any of his words in this follow-up to this post.  However, two words from Dora's case history did stand out, and I will add them to my ten-dollar list.

Ratiocination is a noun referring to the process of logical reasoning, which builds off the verb ratiocinate - to reason methodically and logically.  I have to admit, even after knowing the definition, I don't like these words, which seem unnecessary, since we already have the verbs to think and to reason; it would make more sense to modify those to indicate situations where someone is using faulty reasoning or thinking emotionally rather than rationally.
 
Another word that keeps coming up in Dora is reticule, which means a small purse or handbag. Given Freud's constant conflation of reticule and (external) female sex organs, I thought he was referring to a change purse, but it larger than that. I don't think anyone today still uses the term reticule to mean purse, just as most people don't believe in the old wives' tales that underpin Freud's analysis of Dora, including that bed-wedding is a sure sign that someone has been masturbating.  (The wheat to chaff ratio with Freud is surprisingly low, I must say.)

Pressing on, it is quite odd is that one dictionary says that reticule is just a variant spelling of reticle, which is a network of tiny lines that make up a sighting scope for a telescope or microscope. More generally, we would use the phrase lining up something in the crosshairs. Even stranger is that in the U.K., graticule is used in place of reticle.

Rick Moody's Hotels of North America offers up the word haphephobia, which is the fear of being touched.  Some information about this phobia here.  I suspect as with most phobias, there is a wide gradation in how impacted people are by haphephobia.  I wouldn't say I fear being touched by others, but I certainly don't like being touched by others, particularly people outside my immediate family.  Moody's use of the term falls into this broader sense of the word.

Superannuated appears periodically in books I read, most recently in Durrenmatt's A Dangerous Game.  I find this an interesting case, since it originally referred to someone who was allowed (or forced) to retire due to old age and then was on a pension, i.e. an annuity.  However, over time the annuity aspect has faded away (as have pensions in the real world) and the meaning of the word has broadened a bit to refer to a person or thing (or even an idea) that has become obsolete, outmoded or old-fashioned.  In some rare cases, it seems to refer to something being old, but it is probably better to try to keep some precision in the term and to retain that aspect of obsolescence.

I'll end with enervating, which can either mean a kind of wasting away associated with a disease (i.e. literally debilitating) or more colloquially to be tiring or exhausting.  In context: even reading about the long party at Trimalchio's house in The Satyricon was enervating and I had to take a nap after finishing that chapter.

 
One final note is that this blog has surpassed 150,000 views (technically not Likes).  It took something on the order of 4 years to reach 100,000 views, but then only four more months to reach 150,000!  So thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment now and again.

Construction Time Again

Many cities in North America are undergoing redevelopment, but there are few that seem to be growing quite as much as Toronto.

Roughly two years ago, I posted this shot of a building being torn down at Dundas and River.  I think the shot came out well, and I particularly liked the somewhat random colours that some of the tenants had used on their walls.  It did look a bit like a doll house with the cover off.

Some of the other parts of Regents Park have developed more quickly, particularly the Aquatics Centre.  They have made progress on the athletic fields, and now on the spot that this building was torn down, a new building is rising.

I was biking back from work (and fighting against the wind) when I decided I ought to capture some of these changes.

Looking north to site where previous building had been demolished

Looking west over athletic field towards downtown

At this rate, they may actually be ready for occupancy by the end of 2017.

Pop Has Eaten Itself

Ok, sort of a cheesy pun on the group Pop Will Eat Itself.  I do think there is a point of no return, launched in a general way by Pop Art, which the art world has reached today where it has become so self-referential and fairly shallow (think Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst).  However, this post really isn't about that.

Rather, I want to make a small shout out to James Rosenquist, who died on Saturday.  The Guardian obituary is reasonably comprehensive.  I assume the one in the NY Times is longer, but I try not to dip behind their paywall too often.

I managed to see two major Rosenquist exhibits over the years.  One was a bit of a surprise that I stumbled across at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and focused on his large print works (covered in Time Dust: Complete Graphics 1962-92) and then the major retrospective at the Guggenheim in 2003, which also had a very comprehensive catalogue.

You really need to see a massive Rosenquist print or painting in person, but here are a few that I like, even in miniature.

James Rosenquist, Star Thief, 1980

James Rosenquist, Time Dust, 1992

James Rosenquist, F-111, 1964

Of course, to really get the impact of F-111, you not only need to see it in person, but you need to see it wrapped around a room of the proper dimensions.  It was set up that way at the Guggenheim exhibit and it was displayed "properly" at MoMA in 2012.  It is not currently on view at MoMA.

Rosenquist is probably my second favorite Pop artist, somewhat behind Jasper Johns.*  Roy Lichtenstein is probably third, though I generally prefer his much later work, not his work from the 60s.  Claes Oldenburg is probably fourth on the list, as his work always brings a smile to my face.

As I was deciding what to write, it struck me that nearly all of the Pop artists of the 60s have passed away.  Drawing on a list of Pop artists on Ranker, I believe only Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Indiana, Jim Dine, Peter Blake and Wayne Thiebaud are still alive.  Certainly not very many.

* These rankings definitely do shift for me  A couple of years ago I was ranking Rosenquist ahead of Johns, but I really do like Johns's Four Seasons (below), so right now he has pulled ahead.

April-May events

I suppose this is as good a place as any to update this list and focus it more on the immediate future.

In general, I am seeing more music than plays in April -- Esprit Orchestra tomorrow and probably Schubert's String Quintet at the Moredale Concerts and then Amici doing Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time at the end of April.  All quite exciting, though Amici is probably of most interest to me.  I actually just saw an amazing performance of Wijeratne's Invisible Cities featuring TorQ.  I hope it is recorded soon.  In the meantime, there is this.

TorQ has a spot at an upcoming concert May 27 where the main feature is Carmina Burana.  I'll probably go, even though I've got a ticket for that piece being done by TSO in June!  I still need to get my ticket for the TSO doing Beethoven's 7th (probably on May 26, which would be quite a bit of music back to back).

But of course I'll fit in theatre somehow.

In the next week or two, I need to decide when I will go to Ruhl's The Clean House at Alumnae Theatre.  Details here.

I also will be catching two George Brown productions: The Penelopiad and A Flea in Her Ear and squeezing them in in April.

I am probably going to see Dennis Kelly's Orphans at Coal Mine in April, though I'm pretty sure it will be quite depressing.

For those that missed it during Panamania, LePage's 887 is back for a couple of weeks in April.

I'm debating seeing It's All Tru at Buddies in May.  Mostly because I have seen almost no queer theatre at Buddies since I've moved back, and that sort of seems weird to me.

Another production that was just announced is Ntozake Shange's for colored girls, which will be at Soulpepper through most of May.

In terms of storefront theatre and what I am aware of, Wolf Manor will be remounting Julius Caesar and Seven Siblings will be doing Albee's The Play About the Baby (both in May).

Finally, at the very tail end of May, Norm Foster's Office Hours opens at East Side Players, though I suspect I'll actually catch it in June.

So that seems like more than enough culture to try to fit in during the next two months!

Actually, I would be totally remiss if I didn't mention that the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at the AGO opens in April and runs through late July.  I'll try to go several times.  I wonder if it will be quite as crowded as the landscape exhibit, which never thinned out on any of the days I was there, whereas the Harris and Turner exhibits had slow days.

I had really hoped to get to Montreal next weekend to see the Chagall exhibit, but I am just not far enough along on taxes and work is going to be pressing for at least 3 more weeks.  I'll see if I can sneak it a visit to Montreal in May or possibly the first week of June, though that will likely be a busy weekend.

10th Canadian Challenge - 24th Review - Daddy Lenin

Daddy Lenin and Other Stories, a recent collection of short stories by Guy Vanderhaeghe, is a bit of an acquired taste.  Unfortunately, it wasn't really to my taste.  For a more sympathetic review, you should take a look at the one in the Star.  Most of the main characters seem to be trapped in a toxic form of masculinity and a few of them become obsessed with women when they can't control them.  This is not something that I really enjoy reading.

There will probably be SPOILERS below.

One thing that I am not sure about is whether I would have as much interest in the character, Ed, who is a bit obsessed over his ex-wife in Vanderhaeghe's My Present Age (his first story collection).  While Ed does have stalker-ish tendencies, mostly he causes problems for himself and not so much for his ex.  Nonetheless, I suspect I would not have as much patience with the character on a second read (at one point I considered My Present Age to be a companion to A Confederacy of Dunces).  I could be wrong, of course, and perhaps (hopefully?) I would still enjoy My Present Age.  I will report back if I do manage to reread it one of these days.

I will say that several of the stories took left turns that I wasn't expecting, and that was kind of intriguing.  "1957 Chevy Bel Air" had a young boy flip out when his jailbait girlfriend started going out with a much older man and he fled the farming life that had been laid out for him and made it big far away from home.  To me this seemed a bit of an over-reaction, but still one that I was not expecting.

I wasn't that thrilled with the narrator of "Live Large," since he made a number of bad decisions and kept doubling down on him.  Basically, I considered him a chump, and I really don't have the patience to read about chumps.*  People that make bad decisions in love -- those I can deal with (until they go into obsession territory).  But feckless and/or terrible businessmen, those stories just don't interest me.  And I have absolutely no interest in reading about men that beat women, which takes place in "Counsellor Sally Brings Me to the Tunnel."  I didn't care for this story at all, either the original abuse or the revenge fantasy that is acted out afterwards.

I did feel fairly sad for Bob, one of two brothers in "Where the Boys Were," since he just could not cope after his girlfriend is snatched away (basically abduction by father).  Bob becomes so obsessed with finding her and his (probably imaginary) unborn son that he drifts into homelessness.  His younger brother, Donny, ends up much better balanced in the end, trying to bring Bob back from the brink, but to no avail.

Of all the stories, the one that I enjoyed the most was “Anything,” which featured a retired actor who is hanging about Saskatoon.  He ends up bored and does some play-acting and stumbles into an affair with a married woman.  When she won’t leave her husband – and reveals that she knew all along he was a TV actor – he leaves town in a huff and moves back to Toronto.

I wanted to like the stories more than I actually did, particularly after reading about how Vanderhaeghe came to write them.  But I ultimately wasn't that interested in reading about vulnerable and/or wounded men who put up an aggressive front so that the world won't see their vulnerabilities.  It is unfortunate that such men are particularly poorly positioned to deal with where society is going in North America (especially fewer and fewer jobs for manual laborers and others at the bottom of the ladder), but I don't want to spend my time with or on them.

* It does seem as though I have narrowed the scope of fiction that I do enjoy without reservations.  I have a sinking feeling that I won't enjoy the Rabbitt novels as much as I would have had I read them 10 or 15 years ago, since my understanding is that, by some lights, Rabbitt could be considered a chump and often a self-pitying one.  Again, this is just an impression I've gotten from a high-level review or two.  I'll try to make sure I am in a more expansive frame of mind before I tackle Updike.

Writing goals

It has been a challenging week.  The weather is just not cooperating in my quest to begin cycling (or really doing any outdoor exercise) and that is putting me in a bad mood.  I only have limited will power to extend to exercise, and this is just knocking me out.  Next week should be better.

But on a positive note, I managed a couple of weeks ago to get one project ("Final Exam") entered into a competition, only 15 minutes before it closed.  I managed to get 1/3 of the script finished, and I really ought to get back to that.

Today, there was another deadline.  No time was specified, so I assume it closes tonight at midnight.  I decided that in many ways I want to get the "Straying South" project finished, so I entered it.  I went back to my outline and decided that it could stand to be a 2 act play, so I reformulated it a bit.  I also reformatted it, since apparently I have been writing everything in screenplay format, not play format.  While I had the opening scene written out (more in conventional story format), I still needed to type it up, and I also worked on the scene to follow, essentially doubling my progress.  By my current reckoning, I now have 4/10 of the script complete, which is pretty awesome.  I sure hope I can get it produced one of these days, but I also think it will serve as the spine for the novel that I started many, many years ago.  In some ways, the play is more of a highlight reel of the novel, since I would have much more on Jonathan's misadventures in Toronto trying to find another job.  What is nice is that the characters are starting to come to life again, after being somewhat inert.

I have to admit, both are extreme long shots, but I have a slightly better shot at having "Final Exam" accepted.

So my general thinking on this is to finish "Final Exam" first.

Then "Straying South."

Then "The Study Group."

All of these have somewhat compelling characters, though probably in terms of how attached I am to the characters it would be "Straying South," "The Study Group" and finally "Final Exam."

At some point in the near future, I think I'll join the TCR Writing Group and perhaps try to get back to edits on "Corporate Codes of Conduct" or "Dharma Donuts," but I don't really have the time at the moment.  Still, I feel I have made a lot more progress on the creative writing front in the first three months of 2017 than I did in all of 2016.

Bike follies

While it wasn't a particularly nice day out on Tuesday, at least it was reasonably warm, so I thought I would get my bike out and ride to work.  I know it will take quite a while before it is comfortable for me to ride in (after a layoff of basically four months), so I have to ease myself into it but I also just need to quit delaying and just start doing it.

So this morning I pumped up the back tire quite a bit and set off.  By the end of the block, it was flat again, so I tried again, pumping even more air in, and then two blocks away it was again completely flat.  This is particularly frustrating as I bought an extra thick back tire and a new innertube on the last tune-up and that was only in September.  No way should I have such a huge hole in the innertube.  But it's hard to argue with the facts on the ground, as it were.

This threw off my entire morning, as I had to change back into my work clothes.  I decided to wait until the nearest bike shop opened and drop it off, then head off to work, so I was even later than usual.  On the other hand, I was able to get a new tune-up and the tube replaced for a reasonable price -- and they were finished with it in a single day.  (This is the positive aspect of getting started a bit earlier than the rest of the biking crowds.)  So I will try to ride in today and perhaps tomorrow if I am not too sore.  Even if I grumble a bit about it, I will be very glad to finally be getting some more sustained exercise.

Edit: I made it to work and back with no major issues.  Drivers are slowly remembering how to deal with cyclists on the road and the bike lanes aren't completely jammed, like they will be in late April.  I'm pretty sore, but I'll try to push through and ride tomorrow, then rest Friday through the weekend (it's supposed to rain anyway).