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
It is Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and while Catherine is preparing wonders in the kitchen, and I am basking undeservedly in the glow of the fantastic olfactory byproducts, I thought I’d try to meet the day in words. You don’t need me to
There are very few things which are more infuriating than to encounter someone with a truly and profoundly hateful attitude, who makes the smiling assumption that you must automatically share their foul idiocy. I made that point in a far more general
We saw a truly wonderful show of paper lantern sculptures at the Canadian National Exhibition this year – and they did a fantastic job of being broadly international in their themes – without ever being jerks about it. A very nice example
Toronto is hardly alone even in North America, for being based around a fantastic natural harbour, which was once very important to industry along the waterfront, and is now used mostly by pleasure-craft. But that change long since established, it’s civilian tone
Anyone out there still on the fence about whether feelings are more important than truth-telling? Seriously, I can clear this one up for you with one thought-experiment. Simply consider this: We are living in a moment when there is a very real
Koko (top photo) As I’ve mentioned several times before, I’m a huge fan of out of print books, and especially the out of fashion scientific and cultural insights they so often contain. Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the ‘myth of progress’
Hello my friends! I’m delighted to announce that “Structural Happiness” is now available! This book (and the several volumes which are to follow) is the reason we created Large Ess Small Press in the first place, and we are very proud of
While there are definitely quite a few more neatly manicured and tourist glammed areas one can visit – if you prefer honesty and heart to artifice and inoffensive mediocrity, it would be hard to name any area of Toronto more naturally photogenic
The Canadian National Exhibition, (CNE, or “The Ex,” to locals) is an annual end of summer fair which has been held in Toronto, in one form or another, since 1879. The diversity of the offerings is staggering – and more than ever
One of my favourite ideas from Buckminster Fuller is that designing basic improvements to the way people live (especially in terms of the ratio of quality of life versus efficient use of resources) is a much easier a way to gradually approach
It is nowadays, famously impossible to have a political discussion. There are several reasons for this – but the simplest one is that we have become a democratically-defective populace. Not only are we too angry and irrational now to compromise to take
Here are a few political heavyweights from that fine recent exhibition of American press images of Canada, shown at the Ryerson image centre. Looking at a whole bunch of Canadian prime ministers from the cold-war era, all grouped together on one wall,
Caught ‘The Art of Banksy’ show with Nada the other day, and for anyone who is interested in modern art, it is very much worth seeing. Banksy is precisely in that most curious spot where pop-culture, politics and the art world meet.
I’ve talked about Liberty village a few times – industrial lands out in the west end of downtown Toronto, now being turned into a diverse integrated neighbourhood. But this is not the only massive project to increase housing options in the city,
Nada and I met a fantastic photographer on our recent East End expedition. The work displayed in his shop was admirable, prices reasonable (yay, now we know where to get great prints made) – naturally, acting in my official capacity as captain
I’ve mentioned the value of walking a few times – not just for our physical health, but also for our mental and emotional well-being. The greatest gift of the modern world – our ability to construct gigantic complex structures out of nothing
I have a feeling that some of my Australian friends will be able to relate to this curiosity – and my European pals may well chuckle. America is famously founded upon the repudiation of a colonial relationship. But one of the funny
The day after a very painful election result it’s tempting to rant, but rather than dropping multiple tons of science from altitude (as is my usual habit), I think perhaps lowering some very gently and under control is a better idea –
A friendly Zoroastrian restauranteur who ran the place I used to go for lunch every day once told me, “You know, Paul, a lot of my customers read – but you actually make love to your books!” He had me pegged, no
Last time, I posted about trying to understand more about my grandmother, the second war, and drawing. Here’s some more about all of that – and a bit of meta-thinking about life itself, while I’m at it. I had an odd