Random round-up

I'm a little concerned that a few of my contacts have not gotten back in touch after I emailed, though most were glad to connect even remotely.  In some cases they may be in a deep funk, or in one case where my friend's partner may well have been laid off (as he is in the hospitality industry) they may be completely panicked and scrambling (and emailing pleasantries back and forth is naturally low on the agenda...).  There's not a lot I could do to help in such cases, but there is also no point in pressing them.  They will get back in touch when they are in a better place.  I have been in somewhat closer contact with my cousin and his wife in Brooklyn, though I haven't heard from them in a couple of days.  I'm obviously extremely concerned, as the coronavirus is spreading very quickly, and I don't like their chances if they do contract it.  I'll just try to send good vibes to them and the millions of other New Yorkers who are suffering.  It does put Toronto's lock-down in perspective.

I'll probably take the next two posts to talk about some intriguing on-line art and theatre events, as well as a general appreciation for the way Canadian politicians have really come together and are quite united in fighting this pandemic (which unfortunately does not appear to be the case south of the border...).  But here I'll just touch on a few minor, non-disease, topics for a bit of a change of pace.

I'm still going back and forth on whether to buy Doblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz.  The price for a physical copy keeps going up, largely because Canada's currency keeps dropping (as it is so tied to resource extraction and the oil sands are actually worthless right now*).  The chance of it showing up at BMV is extremely, extremely low right now (and I had checked on my last few visits), not that I would be able to get into the store, let alone be reading on transit any time soon.  As it happens there is a pretty good sale on the Kindle ebook, though I'd rather hold off until I get through a few other ebooks, but by then the sale may have ended.**  Quel dilemme!

On the other hand, I had been extremely tempted by Picasso: The Late Work, and again the price keeps edging higher.

I'm quite sure that I had checked at the library, and it wasn't in the collection, but I checked again tonight, and Toronto Public Library now has 5 circulating copies!  I wish I had known about this before the libraries all closed, but I put it on hold anyway, and it is something to look forward to in June (hopefully!!!).  So one less thing I am tempted to buy.

It did take a while for my on-line orders of New Worlds Anthology (#1-6) to turn up, as this was "needed" to complete my Mr. X collection (as discussed here).  #6 was by far the hardest to source, but I did eventually find a copy.  What was a bit of a surprise is that the Mr. X material in #1 is actually identical to the final issue of Series 2 (#13).  I guess it's not the end of the world, but it was a bit frustrating to go to all that trouble to essentially buy it twice.

What I really need to do over the next few weeks (and I suppose I have far fewer excuses than before) is to start cleaning out the basement (now that I have probably satisfied (for now) my yen to acquire any more comics books between Mr. X and the very last Futurama issue).  It's a bit of a challenge as we cannot donate anything with all the charity shops closed, but they are still taking garbage and recycling, so I can still make some headway.

I have not made much progress at all in sewing the quilt, and I'm trying not to feel too guilty about that.  However, perhaps I will first actually try to make a few face masks (with some leftover cloth) and see who could use those, after equipping my family.  I don't think I know any doctors or nurses, but if no one else could use them I could donate them to the senior centre nearby.

It seems that pretty much no matter the topic, the coronavirus keeps creeping back to the top of my thoughts, so it's probably time to shut this post down and get some rest.



* It is possible that in the medium- to long-term, Canada might start doing better than the US economy, since it appears we are doing better in flattening the curve (and thus probably can restart our economy with less pain), but it doesn't really matter.  When the US economy is in the tank, Canada is also dragged down.

** Actually, I no longer have a dilemma.  It is a bit embarrassing to admit but with everything going on it just slipped my mind.  I ordered a copy of this a couple of weeks ago but had it sent to a US address, so it will be a while before I have it in my hands.  It turns out that the library does have a ebook version, and I've joined the queue for that.