14th Canadian Challenge - 1st Review - The Edible Woman

I've been vacillating on whether I would attempt the 14th Canadian Challenge, given what a terrible funk I've been in for the last 14 months...).  Now I've sort of backed myself in a corner, and I'll more or less have to complete a review every other day.  I've read 3 novels, and I suspect I have read 10 books of poetry already, though I'll have to tabulate them somewhere else.  But it will certainly be an imbalanced set of reviews.  (Actually now that I think about it, Malcolm Lowry spent so much of his life in BC (and the Consul and Yvonne in fact fantasize about escaping to Canada), but it may be too much of a stretch to consider Under the Volcano a Canadian novel, even if it was mostly rewritten while he lived in BC.  Too bad.)

I read Atwood's The Edible Woman many years ago. I don't think it was for my Canadian literature class, though I may be wrong. It is largely about two unmarried women who are sharing rooms in a house somewhere north of the Annex.  (I seem to think she is up around Dupont, but maybe I am thinking of where their hippyish friends, Clara and Joe, live.)  The narrator, Marian, is fairly conventional at the start of the novel, whereas her flatmate, Ainsley, announces fairly early on that she wants to seduce a man in order to become a single mother, which would have been almost unheard of in the mid to late 60s, when the novel is set.  Marian doesn't seem entirely satisfied with her boyfriend Peter, but agrees to marry him after driving home from a very awkward party.  I believe it's right around this point in the novel that the novel switches to third person perspective and Marian experiences a bit of a mental breakdown.  For those that haven't read the novel, I'll add a SPOILER warning.

SPOILERS

Marian stops eating meat, which causes some awkwardness, particularly when eating out or going to parties, as vegetarianism was still fairly faddish (as indeed it still was about a decade later when I went vegetarian).  As various things upset her or trigger her, she stops eating eggs and then other kinds of foods.  At some point, she finds it all but impossible to eat anything (taking it even further than the Jainists because even the vegetables had a right to be undisturbed).  Clearly, this state can't be maintained for long, for obvious reasons.  For whatever reason, she decides to bake a huge woman-shaped cake and feed it to Peter, since he is "devouring her" in spirit.  This is typically interpreted as the point at which she fully loses any connection to her body and externalizes it in this cake.  It certainly spooks him off, as the cherry on the cake of her unusual behaviour.  I can't recall if he formally breaks off their engagement at that moment, but it certainly seems inevitable.  It's less clear to me if she slept with this oddball, Duncan, to steel herself to break up with Peter (or even to convince herself she wasn't "worthy" of him any longer) or maybe to have something to throw in his face if he didn't drop her after the cake gambit.  At any rate, after Peter leaves, she decides it's only cake and starts eating, apparently reconciling with her body.  Duncan stops by in the final chapter, though it doesn't appear they will become a romantic couple, which is surely for the best.

The writing is quite amusing and sly in places, particularly when Marian focuses on her job (and co-workers!) at a market research company.  I have to say I think Peter tends to get a bad rap.  There is no question he is very conventional and a bit in love with his gadgets/toys (mostly cameras), but he doesn't seem to do anything particularly outrageous or demeaning to Marian.  If anything, Duncan is the more overtly selfish character, though I think Atwood is positing him as sort of a transitional figure, allowing Marian to find her freedom through her connection to him.  I'm probably just thinking about this too conventionally, but Ainsley's plans strike me as deeply unwise.  And I found Joe and Clara to be simply too negligent in their parenting duties.  So I suppose I am not really convinced by the options that Atwood seems to be proposing as an alternative to the too constricting, conventional relationship that Marian rejects.  That's not to say I don't find a lot to like in The Edible Woman, but I certainly wouldn't use it as a guide (or a recipe!) to a more fulfilling life.  That said, maybe Atwood should have included a cake recipe at the back of the book.  Here's a whole page of sheet cake recipes to try out.

Missing Fawlty?

It's so odd.  I simply don't recall seeing the endings of several Fawlty Towers episodes.  Did I just suppress them, as I found them pretty excruciating?  I think I had seen The Corpse and the Kipper, but don't recall Basil's escape in the basket.  And I'm not recalling seeing any of The Anniversary.  I mean the guy just never learns.  He deliberately twits his wife and then is surprised when she leaves in a huff?  It really does keep ramping up and up between the various episodes, and you wonder just how they can top the last one.  I'm still not entirely sure Basil the Rat is the most outrageous ending (from what I can remember), but I guess I'll find out on Monday.

Losing Interest

I think the ever-changing deadlines for reopening have finally broken my spirit.  I get a bunch of emails each week about audio plays or other on-line arts, but I am basically no longer interested.  I've decided to pass on whatever they ultimately put on in High Park, though I suppose if something goes up in Withrow Park I'd probably go.  Once in a while I'll order a ticket for some streaming concert at the Village Vanguage, and I still have a subscription for the VSO, but I just have lost interest in pretty much everything else (except for SFYS of course, which looks like it will be happening on June 14).  I think it's pretty unlikely it will be taken, as they really wanted to prioritize new voices (i.e. non-white male authors), so I didn't spend much time on he submission, but Outside the March was asking for audio plays and I submitted the outline of Double Sabbatical as a possible radio play.  (Sometime I do sabotage my own chances with half-assed submissions, but they made it awfully clear that they were looking for other, new exciting voices.  When I am ready, I'll put together a much more impressive cover letter for my poetry anthology pitch.)

Maybe I'll be more interested in August when at least a few in-person things will be on offer.  The AGO will probably have a Warhol exhibit in the late summer and presumably a Picasso exhibit in the late fall.  I'm still very much on the fence regarding a Rembrandt exhibit in Ottawa.  It's closer than Montreal but still a bit further than I'd like to be on the train.  On the other hand, I've had one shot (and the whole family should have their first shot by next week).   I'll think about it again in another month and think about renting a car as well, though I don't really want to do that.

I thought I was going to barbecue over the long weekend, but I cooked something else instead.  I may break out the grill on Thurs. if it doesn't rain.  I thought we'd get to The African Queen but it was not to be.  Instead we watched Playtime and Our Man in Havana.  There is one weird goof in Havana where Alec Guiness's character somehow magically gets turned around and gets the drop on his assailant.  I wish that could have been edited more convincingly, but it was a small flub.  (Same way I feel there is one extraneous scene in Gilda, which may have been inserted by a studio exec to explain the plot.  Oh well.)  As I was reading up on the movie, I learned that it was in fact shot largely in Cuba right after the revolution, and Castro insisted on edits to make the Batista regime look even worse!

We also got through the "Waldorf Salad" episode from Season 2 of Fawlty Towers.  I think I've seen parts of this one, but I didn't recall the ending where an American guest and then most of the British guests tell Basil, to his face, he is one of the worst hotel owners in England.  It's kind of hard to watch but more to the point it's had to imagine him fully recovering from this.  Wouldn't this have made a better finale?  At any rate, it just reminds me that Cleese often pushes the tension much higher than I really appreciate. Sometimes it works but sometimes the situations go too far.

Sore Arms

It was sort of amusing.  The pharmacist was a bit overworked and was having trouble remembering left from right, but she wanted to be sure I saw the empty needle after I had been stuck with it.  She said a fair number of patients didn't think they had been vaccinated because they didn't feel much.  My advice is don't worry -- you'll feel it the next day...  I don't have any other symptoms (lethargy, nausea, a rash, arm falling off...), so I feel pretty fortunate.  I expect I'll feel pretty much back to normal tomorrow, but certainly with more peace of mind, though I am aware it takes about 2 weeks for the antibodies to build up.  It looks like this weekend, Canada passed an important milestone with 50% of the total population and 50% of the Ontario population vaccinated with at least one shot.  Yukon  and the other Territories are doing much better in terms of first and second shots, but anyway solid progress.

The pharmacy said they would be in touch to schedule the 2nd dose, so I cancelled the Provincial appointment.  I do hope I can switch to a downtown Shoppers.  Getting to Yorkdale was a drag.  I had to stand on the subway until St. George.  Then I got to Yorkdale and the escalators were out of service and you were squeezing by people on the stairs.  The passage between the TTC and the GO Bus station was out of service so we had to go up and down more stairs.  Then Yorkdale had completely closed off the nearest mall entrance.  I had to walk the long way around to the front of the mall (where all the parking is and where all the curbside pickup is as well) to find the security guard to let you into the mall if you have a good reason.  I haven't been in a situation where transit riders were so clearly treated as third-class citizens in a long time.

Then it was completely mixed up at the Shoppers.  There was some major glitch with the computer system interfacing with the Provincial system, so they had to enter everything by hand.  I guess that wouldn't have been so bad if there was someone there to explain things, but they were inside the store and you lost your place in line when you tried to find anyone to talk to!  On the whole, the communication was pretty appalling.  I would have completely lost my shit if they had sent me home to come back tomorrow.  As it was, I got my shot an hour late, but I did get it, so mission accomplished.

In a few days we can sign the kids up, and we have a pretty good lead on a pop-up clinic* that will be running next Sat., so that is the next goal.  And after that, we wait for 2nd shots --and to see how quickly the Province opens up.  Quite gradually, from the looks of it.  

* It's about 50-50 with the new pop-up clinics whether they are taking kids that are 12-17.  On Sunday, Nathan Phillips Square had a pop-up that included kids, and then today there was one near the Victoria Park TTC station.  My son biked over and got his shot.  We're still planning on going next Sat. with my daughter.  Just hoping the line isn't too long as/or that they run out of vaccines before her turn, but she's get her shot sooner or later. 

Tunnel Just Getting Longer Every Day

There is light at the end, but the tunnel just stretches on and on.  I'm having Wifi issues again, which makes me extremely irritable, being forced to work from home.  It looks like some outdoor recreation will be allowed this weekend, which won't matter much to me but will be good for general mental health in the province.  I'm actually quite confused whether Phase 1 starts June 2 or basically a week later.  Phase 1 is still extremely locked down, though I guess non-essential retail will be allowed at 15% and presumably Dollarama can go back to selling everything in the store, and maybe small groups get to eat outdoors on patios.  What annoys me is that they are being extremely vague about going back to work n offices (on a voluntary basis), though it generally seems that falls into Phase 2, which won't be until early July at the very earliest.  I think barbers/hair salons get to reopen in Phase 2 with very limited capacity, which will thrill my wife.  It looks like outdoor theatre can go forward in Phase 2 (and probably private art galleries can open up), though the issue is that if they can't rehearse in Phase 1, they probably will be in no position to actually open.  I know the Fringe already bailed on the summer, going all digital and the Bard's Bus Tour has also cancelled for the second summer in a row.*  Most indoor activities get to start in Phase 3, including gyms and museums, and for sure offices should be open at the same time.  This will likely be August, assuming new cases are still coming down and the vaccinations uptake remains strong.  So August may just begin to feel a bit more like normal, and there are a very few more things to do in July, but June is simply going to suck.  For sure, I am going to feel more crimped and cramped than last summer, which is just so incredibly disappointing.

But I do want to end on a positive note.  I was quite surprised to have a text this morning saying that Shoppers had a shot for me ready on Friday, whereas my appointment in the Provincial system wasn't until June 12.**  Now I had hoped this would be downtown, but the appointment was at Yorkdale!  I thought about it and decided the risk of taking the subway was pretty small compared to the advantage of getting my first shot a few weeks early, so I am heading over around 1.  This will be only the fourth time I've been on transit since the crisis really hit (14 months and counting).   I've been biking instead, though one evening I had a flat and had to take the subway home (with the bike).  I wouldn't say I am actually nervous about the trip (I'll bring Don Quixote along to distract me), but I have been avoiding transit where possible.

My wife was a bit put out and decided to go to a pop-up clinic in East York.  Then toward late afternoon she got a text from Rexall for an appointment downtown...  I'd say that the supply has finally stabilized to the point that adults 40+ can get vaccinated without as much trouble, though we are still lagging the States (or at least blue states...).  Hopefully, the kids can get a first shot by the end of June and ideally the 2nd shot fairly early in September.  That would ease a lot of anxiety for returning to the classroom for sure.  And the broader return to the office as well, though at this point I am more than willing to take the risk even without being fully vaccinated.

* As far as I can tell, in a fit of wokeness, Shakespeare in the Ruff has decided to dismantle itself because putting on Shakespeare simply reifies whiteness, so there may be next to nothing on offer in Withrow Park this summer, aside from the farmer's market.  Sad.

** And of course I will cancel this, freeing up a shot for someone else, but only after I actually have my first dose in my arm!

More Movie Progress

I suspect I really would need at least 4 lifespans to read all the novels and science/ social science books I own plus keep going regularly to the theatre (whenever that reopens) and watch the great movies and stay on top of the worthy TV series (only a small fraction of what is out there but it still adds up).  For the moment, I am redirecting some of my spare time to movies on the weekend and Britcoms, and it seems an acceptable trade-off for the moment.

We've now watched all of the movies in the Pierre Etaix Criterion box set (all of which were new to me) and rewatched about half of Tati's films (with Playtime on deck probably in early June).  I admit that I didn't care much for Playtime on my very first time through, as it is close to plotless, but it grows on you.  (I wonder when Tiff Lightbox will program it again, or indeed if the original longer cut will ever resurface.)

Last weekend we watched Laura.  It worked better for me this time around, and I agree that it is one of the best noirs.  I watched Huston's Under the Volcano (by myself) and I'll likely also watch Huston's Wise Blood by myself next month.  If I can find my copy, I'll show my son The Dead (based on the James Joyce story), which was Huston's final film, though there is no real hurry.

In general we've settled in with the Fawlty Towers, enjoying it a bit more, though I found Communication Problems to be pretty excruciating as the guest with the hearing aid is just so over-the-top awful.  I find there is still a streak of cruelty in Fawlty Towers that always rubs me the wrong way.  To be honest, I am looking forward to Father Ted and The IT Crowd more.

I'm not entirely sure what we'll watch this long weekend, but perhaps Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player, The Sweet Smell of Success (or The Apartment) and then The African Queen (or Gilda).  As ever, just so many great movies to watch, so little time...  Well, at least I can't say I have nothing to do.

Can't Stop at Just One

I try to not get caught up in following too many comics or TV shows, as I generally am a completist, wanting to read all the titles or watch all the episodes (ideally in their proper order).  Fortunately, I am not an obsessive completist, trying to track down cover variants, etc., as I consider this a cynical scam played on fans.  

It has taken a while, but I now have all the issues in the four main titles that make up Mr. X (fortunately I picked up most of them before postal rates went crazy).  I am waiting on Dean Motter to gather up his latest material into a trade paperback (maybe in 2022 or 2023), and I'll get that also, but he has slowed down a lot on this title.  While I have read the 1st series a few times, I don't recall getting around to the 3rd and 4th series, though I did just sit down and go through the whole series earlier in the year.

Futurama the comic ended just a few years back (outlasting the on-again, off-again TV show), and I have a complete run now, though I am sure there are a few I haven't actually read.  I have all the episodes on DVD, of course, though I have apparently misplaced disc 2 from Season 8, which is super annoying.  I'll have to go through a few piles of  DVDs to see if it will turn up.  Oddly enough I never did watch the extra-long specials that are essentially Season 5, but I will this time around.

As I mentioned previously, it appears that thee were a few Monty Python episodes I had missed growing up, and I'm fairly sure I hadn't seen several episodes of Blackadder IV (until watching them with my son).  So going through them in order has been a bit revelatory. I think it's likely that I have seen all of Fawlty Towers and all of Father Ted (perhaps missing out on one), but I have most of Season 2-3 to go for Black Books and Season 4 for The IT Crowd, so a lot to look forward to.

But there are some things I know better than to even start, like Dr. Who or the X-Men comics and it's many, many spin-offs. That way madness lies...

I actually held off for the longest time from reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman (in part because there was so much to get caught up with), but I recently went through the main saga (the initial 75 episodes).  I thought it was very well done and was impressed at how various myths and legends were interwoven.  It's fairly high-brow for a comic series.  I was a little disappointed but not that surprised that Gaiman and others have occasionally done spin-off series, though I don't think there is any indication that the whole thing will be rebooted.  I'm less likely to pick up any of the spin-offs but you never know.

I follow Girl Genius regularly (and indeed Phil Foglio from way back when he was doing his What's New strip in Dragon Magazine!) and bought all of the individual books (even the Secret Blueprints issue) prior to the whole shooting match moving over to the web and going digital.  It's been 20 years now, and I don't think they are much further along than 2/3 of the main story arc.  (This is the sort of thing that makes me feel really old --- that I have comic books (that I bought new not vintage) older than my son.)  I even have almost all of Foglio's Buck Godot episodes in print, and then just ordered the new digital versions of these titles, with the The Gallimaufry pages redone in color.  The individual books or a bundle with all three titles can be found here. 

My current obsession is The Venture Brothers.  I've seen several episodes from the first two seasons, but certainly not all of them and not in the proper sequence.  It looks like Cartoon Network has this weird thing, where they just stream them in a continual loop but there is no way to know where you are in the overall series.  That's a bit too random for me.  This is a case where I really wish that Netflix stuck to its original business model of sending out actual DVDs (even from most TV series), but those days are long gone.  It looks like the Vancouver Public Library has Seasons 1-3, but the Toronto Public Library and even Chicago Public Library don't have any (though TPL does have a fairly complete collection of Criterion DVDs so it's not like I don't have anything to watch).  I do find that I am watching 2 or even 3 episodes at a time.  Perhaps I will break down and get the DVDs (though for the later series the Blu-Rays aren't that much more expensive).  There is one other option I will explore next month, however, which is there is a Bay St. Video that is still in operation.  I will email them about Venture Bros. and see if they are planning on renting out any of the discs or only selling them.  Given that the series was recently cancelled at the end of Season 7 (though supposedly with a forthcoming special movie on HBO Max to wrap up the series), it isn't quite as much of an investment as some TV series.  Though it is true almost any US series ends up being 2-3 times as many overall episodes as a Britcom (with Red Dwarf (another series I followed) being a partial exception, and indeed a 90 minute Red Dwarf special has just been released which I will order at some point in the near future).

Edit (5/22): I just learned that today and probably through the long weekend, there is a sale on iTunes to get each season of The Venture Bros. for $9.99 (even including seasons 6 and 7).  This offer is good in the US and Canada but not sure of other regions.  I'll have to reset my password as it is so rare I actually buy something on iTunes instead of just streaming it, but this should be worth it.  The one drawback is that there are a couple of special episodes that really should have been made part of the Season packages or at least as stand-alone episodes.  Well, a relatively minor annoyance.