Another Mixed-Up Weekend

In brief, the weekend started off pretty badly, but then got better, but then ended with a major disappointment.  Friday I simply couldn't find my main USB key.  I basically emptied my pannier at work and then again at home and simply couldn't find it.  Since it didn't rain after all on Saturday, I went back in to work and fortunately found the USB key hiding under some take-out napkins.  I hung out a bit longer and then went home.  I'm generally pretty good about backing up material, which is why the USB gets such a workout.  However. it is harder now that the DVD-burner on main computer has basically given up the ghost.  I think it's a sign that it is just time to replace this thing, which is probably from 2014.  Actually I have an older computer that I fire up from time to time for very special applications.  I'll try to get around to wrapping up my post on that shortly.

Finding the USB key was a big relief obviously.  While the weather wasn't great, I did go outside and finally finished this Chinese urbanization book I need to review.  I've gotten through most of the main tasks hanging over my head (a huge report at work) and getting the basement ready for my daughter to move in, though I have this review and a paper review due in about a week.

What I was really looking forward to was an outdoor concert on Sunday.  (I waited too long on the outdoor play listed in Now last week, as all the performances were completely sold out.)  This was going to be an outdoor concert for a maximum of 14 people and Skye Wallace was the featured artist.  On the one hand, it's quite a comedown from performing a sold-out show at Lee's Palace (ok, she was really the opening act) but it is basically impossible to play anywhere nowadays.

I went off to the gym before lunch (I'm basically still maintaining a twice a week routine with 4 or so days of biking to work, which works out to another hour per day of cardio*).  Then I painted the wardrobe downstairs.  While I don't think it will turn out all that well, my daughter wants it white, so we'll see.

I was about 15 minutes away from biking off to the concert when I checked my email to verify the address details.  It was very fortunate that I did, since Skye had to cancel due to a family emergency.  I can only hope that it isn't too too serious.  There was a replacement musician lined up, but I just didn't feel up to making the trip.  It would have been an incredible let-down.  It's really quite shocking how few people were planning on going (even before this switch) and maybe people just aren't ready to socialize or it just was a really unfortunate date.  I said to keep us posted if Skye is rescheduled, so we'll see what happens.  But it definitely put a damper on what was generally an ok weekend.

Aside from using the time to wrap up reviews, I do have a couple of creative writing ideas I need to put down paper (one is about a nearly abandoned food court and the other is about a crazy date night).  And I probably ought to write the second half of my tv pilot.  All things that I am a bit more likely to do if I actually do take some time off of work.

And read a bit more.  I'm really struggling to get through all these books I said I would read (and in a few cases review).  As a side note, I have to admit, I am just not a fan of the new Blogger interface.  It is considerably harder than it should be to maintain long lists (like my main reading list).  Given that it is in pretty bad shape (and is largely sidelined for the moment while I work through a box of books to put outside in my free library), I probably ought to start again with a cleaner list, which would help.  Well, maybe if I actually take some time off in Sept...

* I was able to get my bike in the shop last Monday (with the completely flat and leaky tube) and it was ready to go by Tuesday.  In the end, I biked in Tuesday-Friday, though in a few cases I started work from home and biked in over lunchtime.

For Want of a Pump

It's really been a fairly miserable few days.

I was struggling almost the entire day Friday, trying to get this program to read in a new dataset.  I then tried to go back to an old dataset that did work and just fuse together the missing variables, but that didn't work either, and there was no useful error message.  In the end, I did manage to get it in, but it was many, many wasted hours that put me in a pretty foul mood.

I've also been strung along by this first contractor to help me clean up some water damage in the basement.  I've finally given up on him and then found someone else who will actually do indoor work, which is still incredibly challenging, though slightly easier now that the Province has moved to stage 3 and new COVID cases remain pretty low, so it feels relatively safe.  There was some mixed messaging about when he was coming over, and I missed out on a slot for Friday, which was annoying.  In the end, we agreed the new contractor would come over on Monday.  In the evening, I went over to the gym to try to burn off some of the frustration.

Sat. started off moderately well with one of the smoother grocery shopping experiences in a while.  Then I went off to work.  I've had this report hanging over my head for quite some time, so I got more done on it, though it will still probably be another day or two before I can finally pass it over to someone else for final edits.  (Along with this book review that I am kind of dreading, these tasks really do suck up way too much of my mental energy.)

However, there was one frustrating detail.  I dug up some data on car sharing that I had collected in 2017, and then repeated in 2019 and 2020.  For some bizarre reason, I seem to have collected the data for Boston but not Chicago.  I am really surprised that my 2017 self didn't get that at the time, so I spent many hours tracking through old records, trying to find the original files, and I have basically given up.  (The way the data happens to be stored means that I can't just go back and retroactively gather the 2017 data now, unfortunately.)  I'm basically left with the notion that because Chicago didn't have Car2Go in 2017, I didn't bother gathering the 2017 data.  Or perhaps I didn't check carefully enough and thought that ZipCar wasn't operating there in 2017, though I'm pretty sure I was aware that 2-way car sharing existed in Chicago, even back then.  So it is all quite baffling why I didn't collect Chicago data and then bothered to collect it for Boston.  It's certainly not the end of the world, but it was a disappointing turn of events.

I worked a little later than I wanted, but felt I was finally in a bit of a rhythm.  I decided I would be pro-active and pump up my back bike tire just a bit before setting off.  Big mistake.  Somehow my pump malfunctioned, and it is possible (though not confirmed) that it has broken the valve on the inside tube, which will also have to be replaced, though the bike shop I go to isn't open until Monday.  I tried for close to an hour to fix the pump and then pump up my back tire, but by the end of this it was completely flat.  I even went and visited the cubical of a fellow cyclist to see if he happened to have a spare portable pump, but he didn't.  I knew that if I tried to ride with a completely flat tire it would just wreck the rim and I'd have to replace the entire back wheel.  It was also dark by now, so it wouldn't have been all that safe to ride home, even with a miraculously repaired tire.

I debated various options and finally decided I would take the subway home -- with the bike.  And basically the TTC ride home was a nightmare, which it is so often.  There was a suicide just north of Bloor and it was taking them an extraordinarily long time to a) get the shuttle buses running and b) turn the trains around to take the people up to the St. George station.  There weren't many people on the train, which was one saving grace and everybody except one person was wearing a mask.  I really don't want to be taking the TTC this winter, especially if people have started working downtown again, but perhaps it isn't quite as dreadful as I imagined.  And of course, I won't be attempting to make the trip with a bike and having to carry it up and down the stairs!

I'm just about to run off to the gym again and then hit Walmart as soon as it opens.  I should be able to find a bike pump there.  I'll see if it is just the pump that was broken or if the tube also needs replacing.  I think I may be a little jumpy and not too trusting of this tire for a while and maybe I will need to drop the bike off at the bike shop anyway.  So that made for an extremely frustrating day, and I am just hoping that this Sunday turns out better.

Fall Openings

I'll try to cram quite a bit into this post.

Grocery shopping has gradually returned more or less to normal, including the opening hours.  I still remember the very long lines that snaked through the parking lot just to get in.  Now getting in is generally a breeze, though sometimes the line to get a cashier can be long, though going the self-checkout route can help quite a bit.  The hoarding impulse seems to have died down as well.

I was quite pleased that Toronto finally moved to Stage 3 on July 31 (over three weeks ago now!).  We were locked down harder and longer than pretty much any other major city in North America.  On the other hand, it's hard to argue with results.  Ontario is basically hovering at 100 new cases a day (better than most of the other provinces on a per capita basis and shockingly better than BC on an absolute basis), and Toronto is often under 20 new cases.  When we look down south, it is shocking what they are claimed as "success"...

The Saturday after we went to Stage 3 I stopped in at the gym just to see their plans, and then I guess I worked out later on Sunday.  I've generally been managing to get in two workouts a week and am probably at around 85% of my pre-COVID workout routine.  It definitely takes longer with all the extra wiping down of equipment, and the risks are probably a little higher than I would like (many people don't actually wear masks while lifting weights, for example) but I simply didn't have the discipline to work out at home.  My biggest gripe is that they close at 9, which means there can be a line-up of people trying to get in a 7 in order to get in a full workout before they shut the doors.  I am hoping they extend hours to 10 pm soon, which I think would largely solve that issue.  I still haven't managed to go back to the swimming pools, and perhaps I will consider that more seriously in Sept.

The kids have started going back to the dentist and orthodontist for appointments.  My much delayed check-up is Sept. 11.  (Better make sure I am up-to-speed on flossing!)

The libraries have been gradually reopening (recently we could just get the holds off the shelves ourselves) and supposedly a core number of libraries will be back to more or less normal service starting on Monday.  It's not the highest thing on my list of priorities, but I have taken advantage of the book hold service (and certainly went a little wild with the e-books during lockdown!).  I'll have to see if that means the Reference Library downtown will also be back to normal.  As far as I can tell, Robarts and the other university libraries are still very much in lockdown mode, and I don't know when that will change.

Last week the movie theatres started testing the waters of reopening.  I'm actually probably going to try to see Inception tomorrow at Beach Cinema, and then perhaps in a few more weeks I'll check out Tenet.  I believe Wes Anderson has a film coming out fairly soon, and I'll probably go to that.  Interestingly, the Paradise on Bloor was one of the last theatres to shut down, but it hasn't announced its reopening plans yet.

That's somewhat similar to the Power Plant at Harbourfront.  It was open another week longer than the Textile Museum and MOCA, but they've both reopened and the Power Plant is still closed.  It appears that the Power Plant reopens on Sept. 26 and I'll make it out fairly soon after that.

Another somewhat delayed reopening is the Ryerson Image Centre, which reopens on Sept. 16, so I'll probably get over there soon.

After holding out for quite a while, Crowsnest cancelled the fall and spring season, which was quite unfortunate, as there were at least two shows I would have gone to.  As far as I can tell, Canadian Stage still expects to present at least some shows.  There hasn't been any update at Soulpepper or Coal Mine or Factory.  Tarragon said they would be all virtual and podcast this season, and I'm starting to think that will be the same at Theatre Passe Muraille.

There was some sad news that East Side Players has decided to disband.  They were not able to weather the storm without their spring fundraiser.  While I found their work pretty hit or miss (the acting actually was usually pretty good but some of the scripts were subpar), I will be sad to see them go.  The Bloor West Village Players seem poised to return, so we shall see.

I think last weekend, there was an actual children's play outdoors in a park nearby, though I didn't seriously consider going.  Now this weekend there is a more serious play (Alphonse by Wajdi Mouawad).  I can't make it this weekend, but it moves somewhat closer next weekend to Dufferin Grove Park, and I might go.  I'm actually a little gun-shy of biking out that way for a few reasons, which I'll discuss in the next post, but I'll likely go.  A review and details on getting tickets here.

I'll end with biggest reason I wanted to get this post out there.  There is still a day and a half to catch the encore presentation of the virtual Toronto Fringe.  Check it out here until the 23rd at midnight!  And now, I really do need to move back to some more productive work.

The Internet Doesn't Do Irony (Well)

I am so very, very far behind on posting, and I suspect some of the posts I thought I would get to will most likely be abandoned.  But I did say I would post a bit on the internet and humour.

Now obviously there are a lot of very amusing things on the internet, though I would say that snarky comments generally seem to succeed the best.  And generally comments with a bit of bite and even a malicious edge.

As a general rule, I would say that irony doesn't translate particularly well to the internet and to Twitter in particular.  I suppose this is largely because things written in shorthand (more or less) lose their context and can really come across badly when standing on their own.  Perhaps it goes without saying that nuanced political commentary also fares badly on the internet...

I put in a joke in one of my recent scripts about how after Aunt Jemima was taken out of the grocery stores that Mrs. Butterworth had to watch her back.  Now this was supposed to kind of point out the tone-deafness of the character.  It didn't actually surprise me that there were calls to get rid of Mrs. Butterworth and Uncle Ben (and Uncle Ben is definitely on the way out).  Now what was a surprise is that on LinkedIn someone was saying that 10 or so years ago, a Black-led focus group (run by a Black-owned firm) found that most consumers wanted to keep Uncle Ben, as he was seen as a competent authority figure featured on the box and not some Uncle Tom sell-out as a number of activists see him today.  

I'm not saying either group is right, as both have their right to their opinion (though often one side claims the other doesn't have that right), but I do hate how Twitter just magnifies the voice of the angry few (and somebody is angry over literally everything (particularly the widespread misuse of literally)) and then corporations just cower and do their spineless thing.  I guess I am really showing my age, but the concept of the silent majority that Nixon invoked really does seem to be something that maybe we should keep in mind. 

I swore that I wasn't going to get into the whole trans rights advocacy buzzsaw and their battle against the TERFs, but I frankly am glad that J.K. Rowling is sticking to her guns and that, whenever the opportunity arises, Rowling's fans are still going out and buying her new books or what have you.  Obviously, I am also against cancel culture as a general concept.  (And how pathetic that a couple of the signers of this no cancel culture manifesto backed off when they disagreed with the positions of a few other signers!)  And certainly it comes as no surprise that some people continue to play the victim card and claim that some speech is so damaging to them that it really should be suppressed.  It is to my regret that I did participate in promoting the PC agenda while in university.  I feel mostly we were simply promoting non-sexist language, and I still support that as a general goal, but the obnoxious self-righteousness that went along with the movement back then has morphed into a truly toxic brew amongst the Twitterati today.

I'll just end with a glaring example of what I consider a truly sad state of affairs showing just how humourless the internet is nowadays, and then perhaps I can finally move on to hopefully more light-hearted posts.  There was a Canadian brewery that came up with a sour cherry beer called Karen Sour with the tag line "Can We Speak to Your Manager" (presumably to find the beer in stock)

And then a bunch of Twitter users said that this was mean spirited and because of the way that other Karens were making Black Lives miserable that this was the wrong time for the campaign.  I truly can't fathom that anyone would think the brewery was actually celebrating Karens, but whatevs.  The brewery instantly pulled the beer and grovelled about how unWoke they were, and the Internet moved on.  But the world is just a bit more mirthless than it was before.  Sad. 

Cooling Down

It has been unbelievably hot this past week.  It finally rained today on and off.  I stayed home, though I did slip out for a short grocery run between rain bursts.  It was nice to not have to run the AC for a while.

In general, the teleworking has been ok and team productivity has been maintained, but this past week it did feel like the wheels started falling off.  This could be because there just don't seem to be any tangible goals to work towards (non-work goals at any rate) and a full return to work will probably not occur until Sept., which is kind of a drag, though I may end up coming in once or twice a week towards the end of July.  Hopefully, I will be able to rest a bit this weekend (with the heat wave finally broken) and be somewhat recharged next week.

I've been doing a bit of extra reading and managed to get through Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being.  It started off reasonably well, but I wasn't crazy about the middle section and then it got a bit postmodern (with Kundera breaking in and commenting on the action in the novel, along with 3 or 4 dream sequences kicked off by Teraza that weren't obviously dream sequences until the end).  I'm curious whether the movie sticks faithfully to the plot of the novel,* which zigzags between characters, or if the plot has been straightened out (and just focuses on the Tomaz and Tereza arc).  Still, it's one of those novels that aspiring members of the intelligentsia must read.

I haven't heard yet if my piece on executives coming up with COVID-related tv series was taken for Monday night's SFYS, but it was nice not to have to worry about the deadline for once, as I got my piece in early!  It's mostly a satire of entitled executive behaviour, but I do have a few snarky things to say about how humourless the baying Twitter crowd is.  Likely that will rub some people the wrong way.  My next post will focus on this more directly.

This is the last night to watch any of the Toronto Fringe Digital pieces.  I think Act 3 was still my overall favourite, though I'm a bit disappointed I missed out on the Lear-inspired puppetry in Act 1.  I'm also very disappointed in myself for not checking the UK National Theatre website.  I missed out on Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs by one day, and there was another one a few weeks back that I also wanted to catch.  I'm hoping that they will stream this again or push it to Netflix or something, as it is so rarely done (in fact I don't think I had ever heard of the play before!).  I basically had to remind myself that between work and keeping up with the Toronto Fringe this week I probably wouldn't realistically have watched a 3 hour(!) performance anyway, but it did take several hours for me to cool down once I realized that the opportunity was lost.

And on that note, I think it is time to turn in for the evening.

* Apparently, Kundera wrote that the movie was not faithful at all to the spirit of the novel (hardly a surprise) to the point where he lost his cool and no longer allowed movie or tv adaptations of his works.

Fringe Review

This is a bit of a last minute review.  There is only a single day left (today) to catch Phase 3 of the Digital version of the Toronto Fringe.  I thought two were stand-out videos.  First is a 14 minute musical called Back and Forth: In Concert.  The second is Out of the Impossible, which is a 30 minute video by Decapod Media.  This video was much slicker than I expected.  I don't know if it will resurface in some other forum, but it is worth checking out if you can. 

I haven't really decided on what to watch in Phase 4, but probably Cheap Beer at the End of the World and possibly Statistics, a musical about Rosalind Franklin.

The Toronto Fringe, Digital Version can be accessed here (for now).

Shortened Fringe Festival and Other Artistic Ventures

It has been such a strange artistic season.  While it probably wouldn't been the best plan in the world, it's moderately likely that the outdoor theatre (Driftwood, Theatre in the Ruff, etc.) could have gone forward, whereas the indoor stuff is definitely endangered.  It is possible that in Stage 3 (which parts of Ontario are approaching, though I suspect Toronto has close to a month to go) that indoor theatre with extensive spacing can go forward, though maybe that will be Stage 4.  In lots of ways, this does seem a lot like where we were in mid Feb. though we know a bit more about dealing with the virus and masks will be mandatory for the foreseeable future.  While it certainly wouldn't be comfortable, I'd probably be willing to return to the gym if we all wore some types of masks (and wiped down equipment more), though I can't really see this working with swimming.

Anyway, the Toronto Fringe was basically cancelled though a small group of video artists pulled together to put their work up.  A program can be accessed here.  One thing that I had a little trouble with is that each phase of this year's Fringe is only available for 72 hours, so you really have to act fast.  On the flip side, you buy a pass to a phase rather than to a specific show and then can watch more than one thing.  This was nice to find out, since the show I was most interested in turned out to only be 8 minutes long!  But once in, I watched a stand-up comic's show, as well as A Perfect Bowl of Pho (the lockdown version).  I'd actually seen a Bowl of Pho as part of a double-header at Factory Theatre (all the way back in Feb. 2019 -- when the world was only somewhat off-kilter).  I believe it was 45 minutes then, and it is 27 minutes now, but the main songs and bits are all still in place.  Unfortunately for you, this phase has just ended (I had to rush to watch Monday evening as the clock was ticking).  I didn't see anything in Phase 1, as I just didn't understand the schedule.  The most interesting presentation (a puppet show with Shakey-Shake involving Lear) will likely turn up again at a future Fringe or on Youtube or something (hopefully).  I am looking forward to catching a few shows in the 3rd and 4th phases of the Fringe.

SummerWorks is very slowly ramping up.  At the moment, they are collaborating with Outside the March on their telephone-based theatre.  However, I already listened to one of these adventures a couple months back.  I'm not sure I would sign up again.

I mentioned that the Royal Conservatory of Music thinks they have a viable plan to put on concerts at about 35% capacity.  I have a rescheduled concert in October, and we'll see if they can move forward.  I suspect Tafelmusik might try something similar.  However, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra threw everyone for a loop by announcing today that they are cancelling their entire 2020/2021 season!  At this point, I have so much unused credit with them and no prospects to using it.  (It's very reminiscent of the airline industry.)  I honestly am not sure how they can recover from 1.5 seasons completely shut down, as a lot of people will just migrate to other events and more or less forget to see if they are even around in late 2021.  So that was a pretty huge blow.

Still no idea if or when live theatre is coming back. I know my wife will want to go to the rescheduled Hamilton, though if they can only fill the house to 35% capacity, it may be impossible to get tickets.

I think this weekend, I'll drop by the AGO and then the following weekend, I'll plan on biking over to the MOCA and seeing if the Sarah Sze installation is still up.

So a lot still up in the air and no question there are still a lot of cancellations and disappointments, but it does feel like some things are trying to return to normal at some level.  I'll post more as things develop.

Edit (7/10): It looks like Factory and Theatre Pass Muraille have essentially no idea what they are going to do and have no indication at all of future plans on their websites.  Soulpepper and Canadian Stage and Crow's Theatre basically seem to think at some point they'll go back to live in-person theatre with reduced capacity and are proceeding on that basis.  I only found out this evening that Tarragon is considerably more pessimistic and has cancelled all in-person events for the 2020/21 season (just like the TSO) and will pivot to an on-line version of Orestes and will be doing radio plays for the rest of the season.  Some of those will surely be worth checking out. Like everyone else, I am just so tired of all this disruption and we really have only started seeing how disruptive this will be for the foreseeable future.

Edit (7/11): In what is likely to be the first of many theatre companies going under, Solar Stage just announced they were packing it in.  While they mostly put on children's theatre, they were starting to do one adult show a season, and I saw them put on a solid performance of Caryl Churchill's A Number.  Very unfortunate.