Nearly spring

It really did feel pretty great outside today, and while it was windy I didn't get caught in the rain.  It won't last, and in fact it will likely snow next weekend, but it looks like we'll be at or above freezing for the next two weeks, so maybe no more deep freeze days.  That would be nice!  Because I thought it was going to rain, I didn't bike, though I did bike to work Friday (so cold in the morning!) and downtown on Saturday.

Saturday, I checked out the exhibits at 401 Richmond, including the new show at Yumart by Leon Rooke.  This artist is apparently also a writer, and I reviewed his The House on Major Street here.  I must say I am tempted by this piece, which reminds me just a bit of Lyonel Feininger, though I do wonder if I would get tired of it too soon.

Leon Rooke, 24 Windows, 2021

On Sunday, I was going downtown primarily to see Rear Window at TIFF, but I managed to drop by Bau-Xi.  The art gallery was showing a number of works, mostly etchings, by Hugh Mackenzie, an OCAD instructor who recently passed away.  Several were quite nice, and I think this was my favourite. 

Hugh Mackenzie, Dry 10¢, ca. 1975

Over at the photo gallery, they still had the previous show up, featuring photos of "decay" by Lori Nix and Dan Dubowitz.  I particularly liked Lori Nix's photos which are made from miniature sets she builds herself and lets break down.

Lori Nix, Mall, ca. 2012

I found that she had a book out called The City with many of her best photos.  TPL has a reference copy, though sadly Robarts doesn't.  The gallery didn't have any for sale, and the few available on-line are going for silly prices.  I wrote to the original publisher to see if any are still available.*  It would be unlikely, but you never know.  I have scored a few finds that way.

After dropping in at both galleries, I walked down to King to see about scoring a ticket for Rear Window, which I don't believe I've ever seen on the big screen.  Apparently, it was a fairly hot ticket, and I got one of the last two available!  I wasn't expecting to have to sit right next to someone so soon!  My only issue was that I thought the movie was 90 minutes, but it runs just short of 2 hours, so it did feel a bit long.  Also, for a restoration there were still some weird problems with artifacts on the film and then close to a minute where the sound track was running at a different speed!  But still, quite a good film.

While I was waiting for the film to start, I finished Garcia Lorca's In Search of Duende.  The poems were fine but the essays were forgettable.  On the whole, this New Direction Pearl series hasn't done much for me, but I have been able to get through several quite quickly.  On the train home, I started The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur.  It was completely loathsome, and I stopped after 30 pages.  

Now interestingly, it looks like I'll be going up to Ottawa in about a week with my son for another tour of the place with a closer look at Carleton (and of course a side trip to the National Gallery).  It would be an amusing parallel if I read Crime and Punishment on the train, as he was reading it on our last train ride up.  However, I have only one more short novel (Sterling Karat Gold) before I dive back into Dostoevsky, so I should be a reasonable chunk of the way into it by the time we leave.  I may just take William Maxwell's 2nd LOA collection instead and of course my iPod.

* As it happens, the publisher, Decode Books, did have a few copies of The City left over at a high but not outrageous price, though shipping to Canada was sheer highway robbery.  If interested, you can contact them and see if there are still one or two in the storeroom.

Edit (3/8): I wrapped up Sterling Karat Gold in about a day and a half.  It is basically a reworking of Kafka's The Trial for the LGBTQ crowd with a fair bit of A Clockwork Orange and Pink Floyd's The Wall thrown into the mix, but then wrap it up in silly (& unexplained) time travel romp like Harry Harrison's The Technicolor Time Machine.  It could have been quite interesting, but actually ended up being a very immature revenge fantasy against anyone that ever crossed a queer artist.  While the characters are supposedly in their mid-30s, they certainly act like twenty-somethings out on their own for the first time.  Anyway, I didn't like it, but I will see if the Merrill Collection wants it, as it doesn't seem to have made its way to these shores yet. 

In an interesting twist of fate, this book on automated vehicles I am reviewing showed up just in time for me to read it on the train, so I think I may alternate a chapter of this with a chapter of Crime and Punishment.  Maxwell will just have to wait.