Hello my friends – here’s the latest episode of “Hard Truth and a Big Hug”. It’s a small part of a book that I haven’t yet got around to publishing – but I thought the big ideas and the final take-away were
One of the odd anglo traditions that is still very popular in Canada, is to listen to the Queen’s Christmas speech. Often this is done with fair sincerity by youngsters, and then increasingly for comedic or ironic value over time (even my
Every town should have one (top photo) I’m pretty sure that every great town has a few great markets in it – and somehow we are attracted to them deeply, without often stopping to think about their extraordinary cultural inertia. I will
And then there’s barrel-vaulting (top photo) Transit in Toronto and the region is one of the most contentious issues there is – we have had tons of misfires, multi-decade fights and studies of studies (even studies of why there are so many
Growing up Canadian, with tons of US media input, we notice early that Americans regularly assure each other that many things happen “only in America” which have in fact been common in dozens of other countries for ages, and are often done
Just finished a really lovely read – Variable Star – which was written by Spider Robinson, from 1950s notes for a never-completed novel by Robert Heinlein. Quite a nifty piece of work it is, too, in genesis and execution. Robinson’s curiosity and
One of the things I like best about Hamilton, just down the lake from Toronto, is that while it is a serious cultural city, with plenty of working artists, galleries, concert venues and events to celebrate it’s active scene (not to mention
As I mentioned the other day (Pinhead-camera) Catherine and I had a lovely day-trip with her father Neville to see the Hamilton steam museum last week. The museum consists of five structures which went into operation in 1860 – and the exquisite
There’s been a lot of talk lately about one of the more interesting and surprisingly ancient optical technologies – the pin-hole camera, or camera obscura – by which an accurate projection can be made upon a screen, of any scene toward which
I think I’ll put a trigger-warning on this one – if you can’t handle reality, and you’ve actually been in a constant state of ongoing panic for years (quite a common state, and objectively well-founded) – whether or not you acknowledge this
Carnival at the Rink, Ottawa – 1881 – (Top photo) Born in Paisley, Scotland, Willian Notman moved to Montreal in 1856 when he was thirty, and set up a photography studio. He began with official commissions to document important construction projects, but
Here’s one final piece from the Guillermo Del Toro show (I know, but really, I couldn’t resist) – it’s not the most glamorous or polished instalment, visually – but without doubt, these hand-drawn spreads (and the other notebooks also on display) give
Of course one of the very best things about any museum collection is the display of assembled diversity. Almost every exhibit reminds us that the ancient world was really not the way we see it reflected in movies – that is, centrally
Puffin and prancing (plover?) pals (top photo) One of my favourite things to do at the museum when I was a kid was draw – the animals held a particular fascination – where else are you going to get a lion to
Ancient Roman space-man “proof” (top photo) (Hey cool, that title has nifty meter – up there with “Hemingway hated disco music!” (a favourite, in our house) I’m building up a whole arc of serious history posts – starting from essential considerations of
I really was fascinated by libraries and museums when I was a kid. I even made a tiny museum of my own, complete with an illustrated card catalog for each of the exhibits, including acquisition-date and provenance. Most were of particular interest
Had a truly lovely expedition this weekend to the Royal Ontario Museum – with my adventure buddy Nada, and also three new friends, Evelyn, Keith and their smart and charming daughter Isabel – which made the whole day a great deal more
I love my town, and I’m incredibly curious about the world, but I generally avoid super-popular touristy things, because so many feel overcrowded, over-managed and overly dumbed-down. (And yes, I may also be just a teensy bit cantankerous) ;o) HOWEVER – Nada’s
As I mentioned in my first post about Guillermo’s remarkable show, he doesn’t just adore films, paintings and drawings, sculptures props and toys – like so many of us, he first fell in love with the horror genre (and was inspired to
I don’t this point can be made often enough – tacky, eclectic, oddball, low-rent, artsy and/or just plain freaky storefronts are by-far the best for both musing and photography. Nor is this for such an entirely obvious reason as that old mean-comedy
I was a convert to the idea that popular art, particularly sequential art (comics) was true ‘real’ art (without requiring any qualifying subcategory) from roughly the age of ten. 1975 was a cool year for that. Comics wise, we could still read