Culture Catch-Up (July 2023 Edition)

I'm not going to delve into the museums I saw on my trip to Boston and New York.  That will have to wait for another day.  (Famous last words...)

Anyway, I've been seeing a lot of movies (in actual movie theatres!).  So far I managed to see My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and The Wind Rises (a woman next to me was bawling her eyes out over this one).  I should have seen Kiki's Delivery Service while I was in NYC, but there wasn't a single theatre in Manhattan or Brooklyn showing it.  Weird (and sad for kids in New York City).  I'm going to try to see Castle in the Sky in mid-July, though it will likely conflict with my Toronto Fringe schedule,* and Howl's Moving Castle in last Sept.  Carleton Cinema is supposedly showing Paprika in mid July (it was sold out at TIFF) and Grave of the Fireflies, perhaps in early Sept.  I'll just have to try to remember to keep checking on those two.

I finally managed to get back and see Raiders of the Lost Ark at TIFF and Indiana Jones 3 at Carleton.  I'm probably going to see #5 tomorrow at Beach Cinema.  I saw Past Lives and Asteroid City last weekend.  (There were certainly interesting moments in Asteroid City, but I could have lived without the two framing devices.)  Back on Victoria Day, I saw Amarcord for the first time, as I detailed here.  On top of all this, I've been getting over to the Paradise, esp. for films presented by the Queer Cinema Club.  I saw The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant.  Sadly, I wasn't able to make Almodovar's Law of Desire (because it conflicted with an Esprit Orchestra concert), but I saw Bad Education last Friday and will see All About My Mother this Thurs.  (I'm hoping my son can join me, but we'll see.)  Oh, I also ran over to the Japanaese Canadian Cultural Centre for two films in their Japanese Film Festival: The Fish Tale and Plan 75 (about offering euthanasia to Japan's seniors!).  I will say that they have the most amazing snack bar in town!

It's ancient history now, but I managed to see the TSO perform Messiaen's Turangalîla-symphonie in early May.  I'm pretty sure I saw Tafelmusik at least once in May or early June.  We actually saw them doing a free concert at the Toronto Music Garden (before the Tears for Fears concert in fact), though it was very crowded and they only got the speakers working in the second half!

I saw a few free acts at the Toronto Jazz Fest (the Trash Pandas and Mark Kelso & the Jazz Exiles), plus paid to see Pat LaBarbera with Neil Swainson on bass at The Rex.  That was a good show.  I'm seeing quite a few shows that are part of Toronto's Summer Music Festival.  Between that and the Toronto Fringe I'll hardly have any free time in the first half of July!

I mentioned that I enjoyed Boom X and The Sound Inside in late May.  I also plugged Sizwe Bansi is Dead over at Soulpepper, which is currently the best play I saw this year.  I did not like Armadillos over at Factory (leaving at intermission) and was somewhat gratified that neither Lynn Slotkin nor Glenn Sumi seemed that taken with the show.  Slotkin also suggests that Stoppard's On the Razzle isn't a particularly good production, which helps confirm my decision to skip this (and Shaw entirely) this summer.  In about 6 weeks, I'll be going to Stratford to see Richard II, Trembley's Les Belles-Soeurs and de Fellipo's Grand Magic.  I believe I chose wisely...

I'll pull together a post soon on updates to all the signed poetry books I now have.  It was a productive few weeks, as I saw poets reading at Word on the Street, the Griffin Poetry Prize award ceremony (still sad that Sharon Olds got shut out) and a reading at the Tranzac Club.

Finally, I managed to get over to 401 Richmond yesterday to see the opening of Nina Amin's show at Yumart.  The show is split between abstract works and then works that are layered with calligraphy in different languages.  I was pretty taken by this piece (and others as well), but I also wonder how much I would like them after living with them for a while.

Nina Amin, Listener, 2023

I then ran over to the AGO, but I kept the visit short, since I only had 30 minutes left before the free transfer on my Presto card ran out.  I'll be back another time to watch the whole video that is part of the Wolfgang Tillmans show.  It closes Oct. 1, so I have plenty of time.  I had hoped to see the Infinity Room one more time before it gets packed up and shipped to another city, but all the slots were full.  C'est la vie.

Today, I think I will be less ambitious, but I probably will stop by MoCA and The Power Plant to see the new exhibits.  I also have to get back to Hart House one more time before July 22 when their summer exhibits are packed up.  

No question I have been staying busy.  It's a bit exhausting just to try recalling everything I have been up to!

* I had to make major changes in my Fringe schedule to fit in everything and still keep the 10th open just in case they show Castle in the Sky as part of Ghibli Fest.  I'll be more than a little disappointed if it doesn't turn up somewhere like Yonge & Eglinton, but it is starting to look unlikely, which is a major bummer.