Fringe Winding Down

I liked the Adding Machine a lot.  I didn't realize that this is actually the Leroy Street Theatre sneaking into the Fringe through a non-conventional site (actually a puppy yoga salon!).  They have come back with a full season in 2025-26 (I think Acting Unit 102 may have bit the dust).  So that's all quite exciting, though they are kicking things off with Mamet's Oleanna, which I have zero intention of seeing, so I won't be doing a full subscription.  The reviews for this have been great (here and Glenn Sumi made it a Critic's Pick here (but behind paywall)).  It is mostly sold out, but does have some tickets remaining for the 13th.

I've generally enjoyed things I've seen with the exception of one where the concept was fine but the acting was shaky and one that was way too much ritual and nowhere near enough clowning.  I did enjoy Adam Bailey's My Three Deaths at Aki Studio in Regent Park but not as much as the leather-lunged woman sitting behind me who just was howling and cackling the whole time and frankly did detract from the experience.  I'm on the fence on Oh! I Miss the War, though this has been getting strong reviews, so I may go in the end.  It's also at Aki, so is fairly close to home, which is nice.

There are a few shows I've seen where they really committed to the bit, like Very Shady Arab Ladies and Hoody, though I was clearly not entirely on the same wavelength as the creators.  The Star reviewer (Chong) really liked Hoody, so I wouldn't want to discourage you from going.  

In general, I have picked shows that correspond with things that critics have enjoyed and/or have largely sold out, so I think I picked reasonably well this year.  I won't see it until Friday, but Stealing Home at Alumnae has generally gotten good reviews and still has seats left.

I'm running quite late at this point, but I thought I would mention that I finally finished Dombey and Son.  I didn't care much for it in general, particularly after the son exits the picture, and I thought the reconciliation scenes rang a bit false.  As with most Dickens's novels, it would be so much stronger if it were 100-200 pages shorter!  I should be able to wrap up Zhu Wen's I Love Dollars soon, and then on to The Leopard and Invisible Cities and maybe Lord Vishnu's Love Handles and perhaps Walden on the train to Montreal.  So much to do...

Edit (10 pm): Oh! I Miss the War was very good.  I'm glad I went in the end.  Two more performances at Aki Studio, and it seems like there is still good availability.  Anyway, I realized that while Leroy Street Theatre is back from the dead, it isn't clear just how active they will be going forward.  The new season (announced in The Adding Machine program) is Icarus Theatre and not Leroy Street Theatre itself.  Not entirely sure what the connection is...  I will say, I am not entirely sure I am going to go all in on a new theatre company, given they are picking shows that do not do anything for me.  I saw Lobby Hero in Hamilton, and while I imagine the acting at Icarus was better, it still was an extremely cliched script.  And they also did Payne's Constellations, which is just a completely empty pomo exercise.  And then they follow this up with Oleanna, which I will not go to.  So maybe I won't go to the other two shows.  We'll see closer to the time.

Almodovar Rankings

I had a chance last week to watch Matador.  I did not care for this at all.  I'm so glad that I didn't break it out while my son was visiting.  I would say this is probably my least favorite Almodovar film of all time, though his first film Pepi (which I've only watched part of) could overtake it for last place.  (Pretty much everyone says this is a very raw, not great film, but you have to start somewhere...)  Although no Almodovar film is completely bad.  In Matador, Pedro himself shows up in a cameo as a controlling and not very nice fashion shoot director.

Now these ranking could shift a bit, as I still have 4 more films to watch: Pepi (in its entirety...), What Have I Done to Deserve This?, High Heels and Live/Flesh.

The best:
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
All About My Mother
Pain and Glory
Volver
Law of Desire

The worst:
Matador
Pepi, Luci, Bom
Kiki
The Skin I Live In/Talk to Her (tie for creepy situations where people are powerless*)
Parallel Mothers

The rankings might shift a bit after I watch the last few films, but not likely in a major way.  

Almodovar must be the director I've seen the largest percentage of his films (and maybe the only one where I will see everything he directed**), though probably one day I will get there with Kurosawa and Ozu and perhaps Hitchcock and Aki Kaurismäki, given that I have so much of their work on DVD.  I think there are quite a few films by Lynch, Cronenberg and even Scorsese that I am just never likely to watch. 

Edit (07/09): I managed to borrow a copy of High Heels from Robarts.  What I hadn't remembered was I did this back in Dec. as well!  And quite a few scenes look very familiar (and in particular this character of a cop going so deep undercover he loses his own identity).  I think this must mean I watched the DVD back in Dec., but then forgot about it!  So weird.  I'll likely have a bit of time this weekend (assuming I don't add even more Fringe shows to my schedule), so I'll try to watch it again before returning it at Robarts.

* Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down! also belongs in this general category, though somehow the film's exuberance and the victim's ultimate reconciliation with her captor make it a bit more palatable.

** Almost immediately after I wrote that, I realized that I have seen all of Tati's films, as well as those of his sometime friend and disciple, Pierre Etaix.  But we are talking about 5 or 6 feature films and a handful of shorts and/or documentaries in both cases.  Maybe I should qualify this by saying I mean watching all major films by a director who has directed over 10 films.

More Fringe

I actually had a Fringe-free Sat.  I first had to run over to Walmart to have a prescription filled and to buy a new bike light (as mine had been stolen on Friday evening).  Then I briefly hit the library, and then I went swimming.  It was surprisingly easy to get my laps in without bumping up against slow swimmers in the medium lanes.  I had hoped to finish up by 12:15, but it was actually 12:30 by the time I finished.  So I biked over to Carlton Cinema and saw Whispers of the Heart.  This is one of the relatively few Studio Ghibli films directed by someone other than Miyazaki (though he did write the script and generate the storyboards!).  It is also one of the relatively few Ghibli movies without fairy tale or supernatural elements, aside from a bit of a dream sequence.  (I guess one could also saw the same about Grave of the Fireflies, which I only just learned is officially a Studio Ghibli movie as well, and also not directed by Miyazaki.)  Anyway, it is a good film, once you get past the kind of icky feeling of watching two 14 year olds pledge undying love to each other...

Then I had a chance to see the Joyce Wieland exhibit at the AGO.  I'm glad she's getting the exposure (she also had a small show, more like a room of her art, at the National Gallery), but in general she doesn't excite me all that much.

Joyce Wieland, Betsy Ross, Look What They've Done with the Flag That You Made with Such Care, 1966

After this, I ran over to the Rex and saw a group called Waleed Kush Afro-Jazz.  As I probably have mentioned before, I like the Rex a lot, but it mostly presents jazz played by older, white men.  This group was a bit younger, though, I guess this being Canada, still the majority of the musicians in the group were white...

Sunday, however, I saw two Fringe shows.  The first was A Canadian Explains Eurovision to Other Canadians.  My wife got a kick out of this.  She is a pretty big Eurovision fan, and she said the guy knew his stuff, and she even learned a thing or two.  I have never really gotten that into Eurovision, probably mostly because I don't like watching TV for long stretches, no matter how "worthy" the subject.  And quite frankly, I don't have a lot of time for Eurovision until they do the right thing and kick Israel out, at least until they stop their all-out attacks on Gaza.  The show's creator, Matti McLean, sort of dances around this uncomfortable topic but doesn't let it spoil his appreciation for the spectacle of it all.

The last thing I watched was a sketch show by the Rhinoceros Collective.  One of the more distinctive aspects of this show was that it was broken in three parts.  Every skit in the first part dealt with cave men and prehistoric times.  The second part was all about chess.  And the last third was about the Illuminati (who knew that college students were still reading about the Illuminati these days!).  I thought the middle section was best, though the Illuminati dance was pretty funny as well.

I'm glad the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse is being used again.  I think it had one Fringe show in 2022, but generally hasn't been used that much since COVID days.  Maybe this means it will be back in circulation for other UT productions, just as I am hoping Hart House Theatre will start putting on full seasons again.

That was pretty much the extent of my Fringing this weekend.  I have a couple shows lined up for Monday (In the Diving Bell and The Adding Machine) and then two shows up at Tarragon on Tuesday.

I might be able to make it out to one or two more shows, but I think I've kind of hit my limit this year.

 

Day 3 of the Fringe

To celebrate Day 3 of the Fringe, I saw 3 shows back to back to back.  That wasn't intentional on my part, but I really wanted to check out what was going on at Video Cabaret (and to see anything I wanted to see there at one time), and the timing worked out well.  

This is the only official Fringe venue east of the Don.  I was told Crow's just wanted too much money.  I'm trying to remember if Soulpepper was part of Fringe before.  I definitely remember Tarragon and TPM being much more central to Fringe in the past.  (And I'm quite sure the Fringe patio was much further west, first in Mirvish Village, and then after that was torn up, either at the skating rink area behind the library at Bathurst or near Trazac.  Now it is tucked away in the Distillery and frankly is absurdly tiny...)  Interestingly, TPM pulled out of Fringe, but then someone came along and put up a whole bunch of musicals there and linked them back to Fringe.

Some years there have been several site specific shows in the East End.  I didn't notice that there were that many this time around, but I didn't look that hard either.  (It looks like there is one show up on Danforth near Chester, which I might check out.)

The shows I was seeing were #1 Clown Comedy, Very Shady Arab Ladies, and Jimmy Hogg: The Potato King.  

I was able to bike over from work just after 6.  I had time to get over to stop in at Queen Books (sadly the book I was looking for had sold out), Craig's cookies and then got in line.

I happened to run into Nina Kaye, who was one of the writers of #1 Clown Comedy.  Our paths crossed a bit at Sing-for-Your-Supper and Toronto Cold Reads, though we weren't super close.  In terms of other celebrity sightings, I ended up sitting next to Peter Tabuns, who is MPP for the district.  (He actually came out to my Fringe show in 2018, as it was one of the very few shows in the East End that year.)  

After the #1 Clown Comedy, I had a chance to chat with Nina a bit more and one of her friends.  We talked a bit about the fact that Video Cabaret really isn't doing the History of the Long Boats any longer and may or may not return to that.  It's really a shame that they never got the funding to record the full series in a proper way, though I imagine they may have archival copies.  We stopped in briefly at a pub, but I had to get back right away.  I mentioned that I was thinking of doing something like Sing-for-Your-Supper East, and she thought that was a great idea (though it means I now need to follow through).  We agreed to get back in touch after Fringe was over.

The #1 Clown Comedy was very funny and got positive reviews.  It looks like there are 4 or so shows left, so go check it out.

I had mixed feelings about Very Shady Arab Ladies.  I was surprised Glenn Sumi liked it a fair bit.  I liked bits of it, but some parts dragged, particularly the running around in the underground tunnels.  And the jazz-playing cops were an interesting touch.  What this reminded me of the most was one of George F. Walker's stranger plays (Beautiful City).

I had basically an hour between this play and Jimmy Hogg, so I did go over to Eat BKK Thai around the corner.  I have not been disappointed at this location, though the one on Bloor near Bathurst once served me a terrible meal, and I haven't been back.

It's good that I managed to eat something, as long stretches of Jimmy Hogg's show were about food preparation, and how he would never again date a woman that turned up late, resulting in spoiled risotto.  This was quite polished and a very entertaining show.  It is basically sold out, though there is a good chance they will add a Sunday show as a Patron's Pick, so keep your eyes out.

However, the evening was definitely spoiled a bit when I picked up my bike and realized someone had nicked the front light.  Come on, Toronto.  Do better!!!

Belated Posts

There are so many missing posts it is hard to even know where to begin.  I might as well start with the more recent events and go backwards.  I actually stumbled across several folders of old photos, quite a few of which need to be backed up onto a second hard drive.  Now I don't have time at the moment to upload photos from the L.A. trip (or the other museum trips), but I will see if I have some time over the weekend.

One interesting fact is that I was riding home and realized that this small food court area on Parliament (near Queen) actually had a name, which is "Hangout Street"!

I suppose this means I really will need to eat there once.  I've tried a couple of times to get tamales at Tamalmex, but one time they didn't have any tamales without meat (shades of my recent bad experience at the Cuban sandwich window), one time the woman seemed incapable of taking my order when she was talking with someone else hanging around by the stall and then one time I didn't have any cash.  But probably one day the stars will align.  I'm not really sure if this is a "permanent" food court or if it is planned to be wiped away by condo development as soon as the market comes back.

The other photos in the LACMA folder are from the Griffin poetry prize reading a few weeks back.  I have written about this at some length but only in longhand and not on the blog.  In short, it was a fairly disappointing event.  Or rather the ending of the evening really colored the overall experience in a negative way.  The main draw was that Margaret Atwood was being given a lifetime achievement award, and probably half the books for sale were by her (more on that later).  I had brought along my copy of her selected poems with the cool UK cover.  

I did, however, spring for a couple of books by Diane Seuss, who was also reading.  She was basically the only poet there I was familiar with, aside from Atwood of course.

I realized something was a bit off when Seuss made a point of saying when she removed her mask to read that this was the first time anyone had seen her mouth since the pandemic!  She was very wary of being around strangers with her presumably compromised immune system.  I suppose this was a bit of a game-time decision, but in the end she didn't come out to do any signings.  Neither did the young poet who had won for best first book.  But I found it pretty inexcusable that Atwood didn't do any signings.  They could have put some rules in place, like she'll only sign two items or whatever, but it just felt wrong to me.  To top it off, it was complete chaos for 30 minutes after the event ended, and staff could definitely have come around saying that Atwood and Seuss weren't going to be signing, so that only the people wanting the remaining poets to sign their books would have stuck around and the rest of us could leave right away.  As I said, it really spoiled what was a generally entertaining evening.  (In some ways, I am still annoyed that Sharon Olds didn't make the cut a couple of years back.  I will definitely never commit to going to the Griffin awards until I know who is on the short list!)

Start of the Fringe

It looks like a moderately busy Fringe for me this year.  I started off seeing a musical called Iris (Says Goodbye) which seems inspired by Haley McGee's Age is a Feeling in that the possible lives that Iris could take over (after being reborn) are selected by the audience, so each performance is different.  Though in this case, each night you only see 8 out of 20 or so, which means it is extremely unlikely you would see them all, even if you went three times.  I lucked out and saw all (or maybe all but one) of the Age is a Feeling episodes.  It was a good idea and generally entertaining, though the band often overpowered the singers.  I don't feel obligated to rush back and see it a second time.

Friday, I am seeing three things at Video Cabaret (the first time they have been part of the Fringe), and if things go well, I should be able to sneak out and grab Thai food between the second and third plays of the evening. 

I actually don't have anything scheduled on Sat., and I might just take the time to recharge, or I might go to the Rex.  Hard to say at the moment.  I probably should swing by the AGO, as the Joyce Wieland exhibit has opened.

Sunday, I am going with my wife to a show about Eurovision (she's quite the fan) and then I need to bike over to UT to see a comedy sketch show.

It turns out that one of the Fringe sets would have interfered with yet another TO Summer Music concert, so I guess it is just as well that I waited until nearly the last minute (though I do have pretty sucky seats to see the New Orford String Quartet...).

Anyway, I have been up way too long today, since I did indeed wake up early and got that second coat of stain on the deck between 7 am and 8:30 am when I had to break and join a webinar.  (I suppose now I just need to dedicate a few hours each week to getting the back room straightened up to the point I won't be completely embarrassed if people tromp through it on the way to the bathroom, as I am tentatively planning on having people over for a BBQ on the 22nd, assuming it doesn't rain!  I am a bit frustrated that the city didn't take away this broken Adirondack chair, so I still need to deal with that, but otherwise the outside of the house is not too bad...)

As ever, global news just pisses me off, watching how the Orange One pulls off one heist after another (and the Supreme Court comes out with something else outrageous).  I really think any decent person needs to think seriously about leaving the U.S., though I realize that is easier said than done.  Given how thoroughly those scumbags are looting the Treasury, there won't be any Social Security funds left in 20 years, so I might as well renounce my citizenship.  I've looked into it but not that seriously, but I think it is time.  However, rather than dwell on this any longer, I think it is time to call it a night.

Frustrating Weekend

I suppose many, indeed most, weekends could be categorized as frustrating, given how many terrible things continue to go on in the world while truly terrible people remain in charge.  As one home-spun philosopher put it, people are no damn good.  

But in a nutshell, I managed to get my swimming in last Sat. (even though there was a very slow swimmer that got into the fast lane and then ran into me going the wrong way(!) and then there was a super aggressive swimmer that tried to swim up the middle when there was not enough room), but that was practically the highlight of the weekend, which should be taken as a warning sign that things continued to deteriorate.  I biked all the way over to High Park in order to meet up with some Hart House mentors.  I did see the Carlton streetcar sitting in the very countrified loop, which never fails to amuse me.  It is possible that I will take it all the way to the Shakespeare in High Park performance this summer, though unfortunately this loop is not well connected to the rest of the park, so I will have to think about that carefully.

I had assumed that this event had a bit more official backing, but in fact it was a totally casual thing organized by one mentor as a bit of a get-together.  Had I known this, I definitely would not have bothered, as there was a much more interesting event happening at 401 Richmond.  Anyway, I was exhausted by the time I got there and then was more than a little annoyed at how hard it was to find anyone.  Even though the directions said it was at the High Park Outdoor Pool, it wasn't there but across the road in a large picnic area.  I called and managed to find the organizer but a few others gave up and a few people cancelled.  So it was just the two of us, but I wasn't in the mood to hang out very long or do the poetry exercise that had been discussed.  To top it off, while I was cleaning up, it appears I managed to toss my bike gloves in the trash (on top of the pair I lost at The Fox, this has been a bad season for biking gloves).  

I turned around and biked back downtown.  (I will say the southern route, via the Queensway and then finally getting back to Queen via a bunch of detours was pretty sucky, compared to coming via Dundas or College to Howard Park Ave. and then finally over to High Park.)  I made decent time, but it was still 3 by the time I showed up and the event had ended.  Darn it.

Fortunately, the artist that I was most interested in meeting, Emily Zou, was still there.  I slowly cooled down from the ride, and we chatted for a while.  It appears that she was at the Outdoor Art Fest last year, though I have to admit I don't recall seeing her booth.  It looks like the Outdoor Art Fest is coming back in about a week and a half, so I'll have to leave a bit of room in my Fringe schedule for that.  (I have (finally) booked nearly all the Fringe shows I was interested in, though Cigarettes are Good for You has apparently sold out its whole run, and I might have to try to catch it as a Patron's Pick on the 13th...)  Anyway, Emily's artworks are currently made of recycled materials and reclaimed trash, including paintings that she felt were not up to snuff.

This piece was in the show at Gagne.

This piece was sort of held back in reserve.

Anyway, I did regret missing the artists' talk, but I did have a nice time meeting Emily.  I told her that she was on the same wavelength as Athena Papadopoulos's The New Alphabet from MOCA back in 2023, though she had not managed to catch that show.

Where things really got off track after that was I decided to try this hole in the wall sandwich shop on Spadina.  I was very clear that I wanted the cheese sandwich, as it was the only vegetarian option.  I got this sandwich that was sort of sealed up like a panini.  Within a bite, I realized something was dreadfully wrong.  The jerk had given me a cubano with ham.  So I spit that out, and then went over to the office to try to throw up as much as I could.  However, my stomach was already getting quite upset.  I have yet to do it, but I plan on giving that place a one-star review.  The rest of the day spiraled downhill from there.  I did swing by the Rex, and they weren't sure if there were any cancellations for the sold-out Ghost Note show, and I didn't feel like coming back.  Maybe it is just as well.

I decided to at least try to do a bit of the outdoor side of the jazz fest.  I wasn't that taken by the Anthony D'Alessandro Quartet but I did like this steel drum led trio.  (They started off with St. Thomas (one of Sonny Rollins's features) and ended with Caravan.)  

Then I went home to take a Tums and see how I felt the next morning.

Not surprisingly, I ended up making a very late start on Sunday.  I decided maybe I ought to sand the deck, but then I had to go buy safety goggles, as I just couldn't find the pair I used last time around.  I also bought one more can of stain in case I ran out halfway through.  One minor positive is that they finally reopened the cut-through from Home Depot (and the Planet Fitness) to Jones Ave.  This will slightly increase the likelihood that I go to the gym in the evenings after work, since I won't have to take the bridge twice.

Anyway, I did manage to get through the first pass at sanding.  (I had thought about going one last time to the jazz fest for a show at 4:30, but I wasn't feeling up to it, and I also didn't want to deal with any overspill of the Pride Parade onto Bloor.)  I went back to the mall around 7.  Almost everything was closed, but Home Depot was open, and I got finer grain sanding belts and some wood filler.  (It looks like there are two boards in the middle deck that really ought to be replaced, but I am going to try to wait for one more year...)  Then I went to the gym.  So it was a moderately productive day, but not really the end of the weekend that I had planned out...

Monday, I finally finished reading The Book of Lamentations.  It had its moments, but overall I didn't care for it all that much.  I did like the last few pages where one of the servants is retelling the story of the uprising but compressing it and distorting it in weird ways.  This also happens at the end of Melville's Billy Budd and is the entire point of Mr Burn's, A Post Electric Play.  (More and more, I kind of kick myself for skipping this when it was playing in the neighbourhood, and then I also missed on a chance to see it in Raleigh...)  I ended up biking to work just after noon!  I thought it was only going to be a light rain, but on the way home I got soaked.  Needless to say, I was in no mood to go swimming that evening, so I just read for a while.

Today, I did get to the gym early.  It was fairly busy and getting even busier when I left (it was closing at 1 today).  I'm currently partway through the sanding and should be able to finish sanding and staining the deck.  If I can accomplish that, then I won't fuss too much if I don't get much else done today.  So I'm off to try to wrap that up.  Anyhow, Happy Canada Day!

Edit (9 pm): Perhaps I should have gone a bit easier on the workout this morning.  I ended up sanding for 90+ minutes, and then it was 2 1/2 hours of staining the deck.  

A quarter of the way there (counting the railing)

 

About 2/3 done

Finished for now

My left arm is a bit sore, and who knows how it will feel tomorrow.  Now the forecast is changing so there is a threat of rain, which is super frustrating, but my current plan is to let this coat set, and then try to put on a second (and final) coat Thurs. morning.  (My neighbours are probably even more relieved that there is no more sanding in the near future!)  I'd say there is a reasonable chance I can get this done in 90 minutes on Thurs., as I won't be repainting the posts or side boards, only the top of the railing and the middle deck planks.  This should keep for another year or so, though I do think there are a few boards that will probably need to be replaced next year. 

I think that was more than enough activity for one day, though I did pump up my bike tires a bit, and I'll probably trim my hair.  I haven't decided if I am just going to read more Dombey and Son (still about 4 more hours to go) or watch Almodovar's Matador.  Whatever I do, I need to keep in mind the local fireworks show that will last for almost an hour!