Think Twice, Post Once

Given that I am not in the business of hawking controversy to get views (not that I don't have a few posts that are pretty controversial, and perhaps one day I'll write a few posts that will really get the Twitter crowd going), I can take an extra day or two to decide if I really do want to post a quick-take on a topic, and the answer is generally no.  That said, I haven't really changed my opinion about how terrible things are going south of the border with an out-of-control, illegitimate Supreme Court.  It's more a question of what can progressives or even moderates do about it in a system that is deeply rigged against them.  My answer was to leave the game, though I am still waiting on my Canadian citizenship, and I happen to think that first-past-the-post is a terrible, terrible voting system, particularly in Canada or the UK where there are multiple parties though few that are actually that viable.  So I still haven't found the perfect place to live, that really reflects my values on a consistent basis, but Toronto is closer than most other places.

Anyway, I was going to go much further than that, basically name-checking all the people and groups that let me down, but decided it was childish and pointless.  I'm not in a much better mood right now, but I can try to focus on some of the better things that did happen this weekend (and ignore how frustrating dealing with Expedia was).

More or less at the last minute I decided to go see Among Men at Factory Theatre on Friday evening, as the reviews were quite good.  It is all about Milton Acorn and Al Purdy building an A-frame cabin north of Belleville and occasionally slagging off other poets.  Indeed, Acorn is the more skilled of the two when it comes to carpentry (he had a much more true working-class background) and Purdy indeed makes a mess of things when Acorn is away (at a poetry conference in Kingston) and neglects to measure twice before cutting -- which I am riffing on obviously...

On Saturday, I made it to the gym fairly early and then headed over to the AGO to see the new exhibit I Am Here.  While a lot of the exhibit focuses on home movies and photos, the second half mixes in several established artists working generally in the realm of "home."  I'm actually a bit surprised they didn't include anything by Carrie Mae Weems, as I think her images would have fit in quite well while shaking things up a bit.  It was a bit odd to see Mary Pratt's moose carcass painting, when they really should have put that on view in 2018 when she passed away.  I guess better late than never.  In any case, the second part of the exhibit had fairly established artists, though the connection to the larger show was a bit unclear.

I liked the Keith Haring subway drawing, and I don't think the Basquiats made it into the big Basquiat show in 2015, though I may be wrong.

Keith Haring, Untitled (subway drawing), 1982-5

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Open 24 Hours), 1986

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (Goldtooth), 1986

I definitely have not seen this mammoth David Hockney painting previously.

David Hockney, Santa Monica Boulevard, 1978-80

Overall it was a pretty interesting exhibit, and I imagine I'll swing by another time to check it out more leisurely.

Anyway, it has finally warmed up, and I spend some time outside reading.

Sunday, I did the groceries and then headed back downtown.  I ended up spending the rest of the morning struggling to rearrange my fairly complex travel arrangements.  I wonder if Expedia will end up blocking me for a while, given that I cancelled and rebooked so many flights and hotels.  It certainly wasn't the way I wanted to spend the day, that's for sure.

I saw a classical concert at 3 over at Koerner Hall, which was nice but a little too soothing (all the pieces were piano/cello duets) and I came very close to falling asleep at several points, though the last piece by Shostakovich was a bit more lively.

In the evening, I was finally able to wrap up Arlt's The Flamethrowers.  It is pretty bleak and maybe not quite as polished as The Seven Madmen, but it's definitely a continuation of the first book, so I don't quite get why it was so hard to translate the second half of the book.  I doubt very much I'll ever read it again, but there is enough water damage that a used bookstore won't take it.  I guess it will go out in front fairly soon.

I also managed to watch the rest of Almodovar's Labyrinth of Passion, which is a very early, fairly trashy film in his oeuvre.  It was interesting.  The plot was quite convoluted but entertaining.

I probably could have forced myself to get over to the gym, but decided that was just too much.  I'll go swimming on Monday and then probably hit the gym on Tuesday.  But there will come a time fairly soon that I'll have to hold off from the gym so that I test negative before our trip to the States.  I'll write about that at a later date, as I really should get back to catching up on work now...