Thursday, June 27, 2013
They Might be Coming to a Port Near you!
The tall ships were back but I avoided the crowds and just lurked around the Peacemaker on a hot and sunny afternoon. Toronto is the only port to host all the ships as they start their tour, and last Sunday the Parade of Sail took place, as the ships left harbour. Cannons were fired, smoke was billowing and from my rooftop it looked like Toronto Harbour had turned into a pirate cove. It was completely thrilling! The Peacemaker was very close to the tall trees of Sugar Beach, so I couldn't get a full shot of her, just... bits! And speaking of Sugar Beach, those willows have really filled out. I shall have to get some shots of them.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Fare Game Deserves a Fair Chance
Blog favourite Jam Café has closed down.
*long, shuddering sigh*
In its place is Fare Game, in which they serve, as you might have guessed, game meats. There are other items that are surprising on the menu, like pad thai, and I can only assume they're there so that patrons that are squeamish about game can attend with their game-loving pals.
I love game.
My friend and I had the grilled calamari to start. Nom nom. I had the venison ossobucco after, and was given a massive serving. But... as you can see, I managed just fine. Those bones were sucked CLEAN. It was ravishing, richly flavoured and tender as can be. Dessert was a delicately mint-flavoured crème brûlée.
The location has always been tricky. I found their website temperamental. But the food is delicious and the service is very friendly. I hope you'll give it a go! I'll be back for certain.
*long, shuddering sigh*
In its place is Fare Game, in which they serve, as you might have guessed, game meats. There are other items that are surprising on the menu, like pad thai, and I can only assume they're there so that patrons that are squeamish about game can attend with their game-loving pals.
I love game.
My friend and I had the grilled calamari to start. Nom nom. I had the venison ossobucco after, and was given a massive serving. But... as you can see, I managed just fine. Those bones were sucked CLEAN. It was ravishing, richly flavoured and tender as can be. Dessert was a delicately mint-flavoured crème brûlée.
The location has always been tricky. I found their website temperamental. But the food is delicious and the service is very friendly. I hope you'll give it a go! I'll be back for certain.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
And Lo God Said...
Actually, He didn't. Or maybe He did. Maybe He said, "BPG, the days are now shortening, verily shorter shall be the days. So make ye hay while the sun shines, and even when it doth not shine. Make the most of these days, BPG, and thou shalt be pleasing to My eyes, well not really, but - honestly - use some sun screen thou great fool."
My new habit, after a day of work and before I begin busy evenings (I've got several personal projects on), I sunbathe on the roof for an hour or so. I gaze up and I appreciate some clouds.
My new habit, after a day of work and before I begin busy evenings (I've got several personal projects on), I sunbathe on the roof for an hour or so. I gaze up and I appreciate some clouds.
The Junction
Three friends hit the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto's west end. First and most importantly was a return visit to A Changing Nest. This delightful consignment store is a treasure trove of irresistible items for your home. I hadn't got a few feet before I saw... the vase. A Grueby-style vase by, I have theorized from looking at the bottom, The Arts & Clay Company in Woodstock, NY. It came home with me, along with some other smaller items, but not the cat. Isn't he/she adorable? What a sweet expression. If you visit A Changing Room, be sure to visit the Potting Shed, which is an extra building on the property, full of lovely cottagey items. Grrr, can't wait to get back there!
More fun shops (including a furniture purchase by one of my friends) and then we headed off to dinner at Queen Margherita Pizza at its Baby Point location. I can't link to the site as my computer's security is telling me the site is dangerous. Such good food. Appetizers were a creamy polenta with a rich, meaty sauce, and fried zucchini with shrimp. Yum. The pizzas were excellent and the panna cotta was lightly milky and a perfect sweet finisher. The building is a former bank and has a great atmosphere, very family-friendly. But does the sound ever echo! So if you're looking for quiet, romantic dinner, I'd give this a miss. If it's a noisy outting with friends, definitely go. The food is so worth it.
More fun shops (including a furniture purchase by one of my friends) and then we headed off to dinner at Queen Margherita Pizza at its Baby Point location. I can't link to the site as my computer's security is telling me the site is dangerous. Such good food. Appetizers were a creamy polenta with a rich, meaty sauce, and fried zucchini with shrimp. Yum. The pizzas were excellent and the panna cotta was lightly milky and a perfect sweet finisher. The building is a former bank and has a great atmosphere, very family-friendly. But does the sound ever echo! So if you're looking for quiet, romantic dinner, I'd give this a miss. If it's a noisy outting with friends, definitely go. The food is so worth it.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Back on the Train
A wet spring and a recent stretch of intensely sunny weather has made southwestern Ontario lushly green. The promise has been realized. I spent my train trip gazing out the window. On the bottom left picture, you see the Grand River, and hugging its bend is the little town of Paris, Ontario. At least until a few years ago, there was a small cafe that looked out right over the water. It was called Café de Paris! I hope it's still there.
Bruce and I caught up on magazines and celebrated that Parenting magazine has given Ugly Dolls a Best in Play award. Good for kids... and middle-aged, er... characters.
Bruce and I caught up on magazines and celebrated that Parenting magazine has given Ugly Dolls a Best in Play award. Good for kids... and middle-aged, er... characters.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Downton Abbeython, Part the Last
We did it! A seven-and-a-half-hour marathon yesterday caught us up. Now we can walk proudly with those who survived the last episode of season three.
John! Sybil! Anna! O'Brien BITCH BITCH BITCH! Thomasssss! Albert! Edith! Peter Egan's in it! Matthew! OMG! JOHN BATES I STILL LOVE YOU!!!
The last episode of season three was sort of shocking, except I was suspecting what was going to happen. Why? Well, because Downton is a big, shameless soap opera and there were too many obvious hints. It's got all the subtlety of a ton of bricks, but what fun!
*bouncing on chair*
And to eat, as this was our last 'thon, I served a proper tea with little sandwiches (yes, including cucumber), home-made scones with jam and clotted cream, and lashings of hot tea. Yeah... it was fun! I even polished the silver!
John! Sybil! Anna! O'Brien BITCH BITCH BITCH! Thomasssss! Albert! Edith! Peter Egan's in it! Matthew! OMG! JOHN BATES I STILL LOVE YOU!!!
The last episode of season three was sort of shocking, except I was suspecting what was going to happen. Why? Well, because Downton is a big, shameless soap opera and there were too many obvious hints. It's got all the subtlety of a ton of bricks, but what fun!
*bouncing on chair*
And to eat, as this was our last 'thon, I served a proper tea with little sandwiches (yes, including cucumber), home-made scones with jam and clotted cream, and lashings of hot tea. Yeah... it was fun! I even polished the silver!
Okay, Now I'm Scaring Myself
It's a theory not universally considered (well, really just by me) that once I was going to start reading again, I wouldn't stop.
Last November, in another attempt to read a complete book, I started The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. I was on a train. I was full of good intentions (never a good sign). I didn't get past the first couple of pages.
Last Friday, also on a train, I finished the book... that I had started MERE DAYS PREVIOUSLY.
*seated dance of mojo-reclaiming triumph*
What has also returned to me, along with the ability to read an entire book, is a sense of relaxation, an ability to be constructively lazy. I think Tom Hodgkinson (secret boyfriend numero uno) would be proud. I like to think he would.
As for the book, it's a tender, delicious read, and I imagine it would be very enjoyable to those who haven't read Jane Austen (or at least seen the movies). But if you have, the threads that tie the book club members to Austen's tales are well woven and fun to recognize. I saw bits of the movie on television one night, and I suppose the most noticeable difference is that the characters are much younger in the movie than the book. Oh, there's a shocker.
*middle-aged smirk*
Last November, in another attempt to read a complete book, I started The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. I was on a train. I was full of good intentions (never a good sign). I didn't get past the first couple of pages.
Last Friday, also on a train, I finished the book... that I had started MERE DAYS PREVIOUSLY.
*seated dance of mojo-reclaiming triumph*
What has also returned to me, along with the ability to read an entire book, is a sense of relaxation, an ability to be constructively lazy. I think Tom Hodgkinson (secret boyfriend numero uno) would be proud. I like to think he would.
As for the book, it's a tender, delicious read, and I imagine it would be very enjoyable to those who haven't read Jane Austen (or at least seen the movies). But if you have, the threads that tie the book club members to Austen's tales are well woven and fun to recognize. I saw bits of the movie on television one night, and I suppose the most noticeable difference is that the characters are much younger in the movie than the book. Oh, there's a shocker.
*middle-aged smirk*
Thursday, June 13, 2013
BPG, Proud Reader
Still basking in the return of my reading mojo, I took a bit longer than a couple of days to finish Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger (The Time-Traveler's Wife).
The book started out with great promise. Grief, ghosts, and a slew of unexpected characters.
///SPOILER ALERT!!!///
Elspeth, a middle-aged woman, dies leaving her downstairs grief-stricken younger lover, Robert, and an OCD-riddled upstairs neighbour, Martin. Her considerable estate is left to 20-year-old twins, her nieces whom she has never met. Her will states that they must live in her London flat for a year and that their mother (Elspeth's twin) must never step foot inside the flat. The nieces live in Chicago but are soon transplanted to the flat, which is part of an old rambling house on the edge of Highgate Cemetery.
oooOOOOooooOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo
Okay, that was my ghostly sound. Because, it isn't long before the ghost makes herself known. Can anyone guess who it is? Up til this point it's riveting, although the twin nieces are like the child from The Demon Seed, or something from an episode from the original Star Trek series: small, thin, with white-blonde hair, dressing often in all white or other babyish colours. They're a... tad creepy. But, they also resemble their mother and her twin sister. So of course it isn't long before Robert falls for one of them, Valentina.
That's where it all starts to unravel for me. Valentina's sister, Julia, is the dominant of the pair, and won't have Valentina doing anything on her own. The twins are so incapable of experiencing life separately that they've remained virgins, and are likely to stay in that condition indefinitely. Virgin-state aside, they are puerile in the extreme, almost incapable of adulthood, low-functioning, and - as previously stated - pretty dull. SUDDENLY... the other characters decide that Valentina is suicidal in her desperation to separate from her sister. I didn't get that idea at all. But.. SUDDENLY she is helped by her dead aunt's ghost to come up with a morbid plan. Her aunt will pull her soul out of her body and she will fall dead. Everyone will grieve. She will be buried in the family crypt (conveniently above ground). Then, her soul will be sort of squashed back into her slightly decomposed body (they experiment on a kitten first, with negative results) and - hey presto! - she can live, er, her own life. It seems a little extreme doesn't it? Yes, yes it does. Why not just get some therapy, buy a bus ticket, get the hell out of town, whatever?
What's more insane is that Robert goes along with the plot. So, this meek little girl, despite knowing the heartbreak she will cause her family, knowing she will be believed to be dead, won't be able to get a passport or get a drivers license, work or do anything which requires official identification, goes through with her crazy scheme... except it doesn't quite go to plan. Sigh. Her slightly decomposed body IS habited once more and comes to life. Can anyone guess who inhabits the body and runs off with Robert? BLIMEY.
Ohhhh, I so loved how this book started. Not so much how it ended. But Niffenegger remains a fantastically compelling author.
The book started out with great promise. Grief, ghosts, and a slew of unexpected characters.
///SPOILER ALERT!!!///
Elspeth, a middle-aged woman, dies leaving her downstairs grief-stricken younger lover, Robert, and an OCD-riddled upstairs neighbour, Martin. Her considerable estate is left to 20-year-old twins, her nieces whom she has never met. Her will states that they must live in her London flat for a year and that their mother (Elspeth's twin) must never step foot inside the flat. The nieces live in Chicago but are soon transplanted to the flat, which is part of an old rambling house on the edge of Highgate Cemetery.
oooOOOOooooOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo
Okay, that was my ghostly sound. Because, it isn't long before the ghost makes herself known. Can anyone guess who it is? Up til this point it's riveting, although the twin nieces are like the child from The Demon Seed, or something from an episode from the original Star Trek series: small, thin, with white-blonde hair, dressing often in all white or other babyish colours. They're a... tad creepy. But, they also resemble their mother and her twin sister. So of course it isn't long before Robert falls for one of them, Valentina.
That's where it all starts to unravel for me. Valentina's sister, Julia, is the dominant of the pair, and won't have Valentina doing anything on her own. The twins are so incapable of experiencing life separately that they've remained virgins, and are likely to stay in that condition indefinitely. Virgin-state aside, they are puerile in the extreme, almost incapable of adulthood, low-functioning, and - as previously stated - pretty dull. SUDDENLY... the other characters decide that Valentina is suicidal in her desperation to separate from her sister. I didn't get that idea at all. But.. SUDDENLY she is helped by her dead aunt's ghost to come up with a morbid plan. Her aunt will pull her soul out of her body and she will fall dead. Everyone will grieve. She will be buried in the family crypt (conveniently above ground). Then, her soul will be sort of squashed back into her slightly decomposed body (they experiment on a kitten first, with negative results) and - hey presto! - she can live, er, her own life. It seems a little extreme doesn't it? Yes, yes it does. Why not just get some therapy, buy a bus ticket, get the hell out of town, whatever?
What's more insane is that Robert goes along with the plot. So, this meek little girl, despite knowing the heartbreak she will cause her family, knowing she will be believed to be dead, won't be able to get a passport or get a drivers license, work or do anything which requires official identification, goes through with her crazy scheme... except it doesn't quite go to plan. Sigh. Her slightly decomposed body IS habited once more and comes to life. Can anyone guess who inhabits the body and runs off with Robert? BLIMEY.
Ohhhh, I so loved how this book started. Not so much how it ended. But Niffenegger remains a fantastically compelling author.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Quote of the Day
"What is more basic than the need to be known? It is the entirety of intimacy, the elixir of love, this knowing."
From Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
From Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Two Things I Don't do Often but Love When I do
1. Go to baseball games
2. Drink beer
I drank beer at a work event. Then I drank more beer at the game.
Here are four reasons I love attending live baseball games:
1. It's a beautiful sport.
2. It's redolent of long summer evenings, and conducive to talking and relaxing while watching
3. You can eat and drink all through it.
4. There is always something new to learn.
But there are four reasons I don't do it more often:
1. Arriving and leaving the Rogers Centre (formerly and always in my heart known as the SkyDome) is horrible. The hallways resemble maximum security prisons.
2. Concession tactics mean the only water available is Dasani, which is vile. And you can't bring your own water. So it's alcohol or soda. Pffff. Alcohol please.
3. Players now wearing long pants. What happened to the long socks and short, TIGHT breeches? I used to love watching the pitcher, weight on one leg, standing there like a David. Sigh. Those were good times.
4. Plastic grass.
By the way, at last Friday's game, which is the one I attended, the Jays beat the TexasRangers Wankers 6 to 1.
2. Drink beer
I drank beer at a work event. Then I drank more beer at the game.
Here are four reasons I love attending live baseball games:
1. It's a beautiful sport.
2. It's redolent of long summer evenings, and conducive to talking and relaxing while watching
3. You can eat and drink all through it.
4. There is always something new to learn.
But there are four reasons I don't do it more often:
1. Arriving and leaving the Rogers Centre (formerly and always in my heart known as the SkyDome) is horrible. The hallways resemble maximum security prisons.
2. Concession tactics mean the only water available is Dasani, which is vile. And you can't bring your own water. So it's alcohol or soda. Pffff. Alcohol please.
3. Players now wearing long pants. What happened to the long socks and short, TIGHT breeches? I used to love watching the pitcher, weight on one leg, standing there like a David. Sigh. Those were good times.
4. Plastic grass.
By the way, at last Friday's game, which is the one I attended, the Jays beat the Texas
Monday, June 10, 2013
Burger: Good. Hunger: Bad
My new favourite burger. The PJH at Pacific Junction Hotel, in my hood, starring jerk flavouring. Also, some of the best nachos ever. Attach drool cups.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Dogs in the Hood
Roads were shut down as the annual dog fest that is Woofstock took over the downtown St. Lawrence neighbourhood (also my hood) this weekend. Dogs of every size and shape comingled for the most part very amicably. The fountain in Berczy Park (usually off limit to dogs) is opened up to them for this weekend only. SO much fun, as were the costume shows and the many stalls selling doggy goods and treats. There were more hands to pet dogs than dogs, so most had a bevy of fans making a fuss of them! This puppy had had enough and just lay down in the middle of the street.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Gorgeousness
I don't remember the name of the place, but it was on Queen Street West. Yeah, I know, not very helpful.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
New Pantry Items
Summer salads? You're about to be bathed and moisturized most indulgently. A recent gift bag included the organic Monasterio olive oil, from Navarra. I won't be cooking with it... it will be eked out with great pleasure as is. Olive & Olives, from which the gift bag was purchased, has a website, which describes the oil like this:
Produced by the masters of Hacienda Queiles, Monasterio ... is a blend of arbequina and arroniz olives which are a local variety. This olive oil is produced for the Monastery of ''Cistercience de Tulebras" and the result of hard work between the Mother Superior and the producers of Hacienda Queiles.
It's very smooth and almost creamy.
The balsamic vinegar, Leonardi Oro Nobile, is from Modena, and is also delicate... the first vinegar I've actively liked, and I'm being active with it! It has a touch of sweetness which renders the temptation to add a drop of maple syrup or honey to my salad dressing unnecessary.
The gifter, knowing me well, included the chocolate pearls. Seriously. Drool cup. STAT. Thank you!
My treasure box (gift from Barbara) has been emptied, the contents are now well sealed in the fridge (moisture and chocolate don't mix well). Until the fall, there will be less chocolate consumption. It just never seems like something I want to eat in the summer. Oh, unless it's in frozen, creamy form. Heh heh.
Produced by the masters of Hacienda Queiles, Monasterio ... is a blend of arbequina and arroniz olives which are a local variety. This olive oil is produced for the Monastery of ''Cistercience de Tulebras" and the result of hard work between the Mother Superior and the producers of Hacienda Queiles.
It's very smooth and almost creamy.
The balsamic vinegar, Leonardi Oro Nobile, is from Modena, and is also delicate... the first vinegar I've actively liked, and I'm being active with it! It has a touch of sweetness which renders the temptation to add a drop of maple syrup or honey to my salad dressing unnecessary.
The gifter, knowing me well, included the chocolate pearls. Seriously. Drool cup. STAT. Thank you!
My treasure box (gift from Barbara) has been emptied, the contents are now well sealed in the fridge (moisture and chocolate don't mix well). Until the fall, there will be less chocolate consumption. It just never seems like something I want to eat in the summer. Oh, unless it's in frozen, creamy form. Heh heh.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Downton Abbeython part three
Part three in the big catchup has taken place. Downton Abbey is such a fun, soapy costume fest! Poor Edith! Chilly Mary! Kind Earl! Wonderful Carson! OH MR. BATES!!!
We've watched up to and including part three of season three. By my estimation we have about seven hours left and I'm hoping we can get them done all in one afternoon/evening. Can't wait!
We've watched up to and including part three of season three. By my estimation we have about seven hours left and I'm hoping we can get them done all in one afternoon/evening. Can't wait!
Suddenly I Feel Like Shopping... not for These... but... Shopping!
I've been trying to work out what the current shoe trend reminds me of. I pondered why only very young, coltish women look good in them. Then I figured it out - hoofs! Except of course, that's already been figured out... and if you look at the bottom right image, shoes exactly like hoofs are now being designed.
The origin of fashion elements is a very cool study. I wonder how many women - who wear those big scarfs wrapped around their necks year round - realize that they're burka-inspired?
The origin of fashion elements is a very cool study. I wonder how many women - who wear those big scarfs wrapped around their necks year round - realize that they're burka-inspired?
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Long Days, Short Nights, Soaking it in
Forget-me-nots cluster around a tree. And speaking of not forgetting, remember the frozen pond? Today it had a couple of quackies paddling around, a boy and girl. Below, Cherry Beach in blazing sunshine. It felt so good!
Fat Evening
A few days of humidity and then lashings of rain... the air has cleared, the plants are happy, the sun set gloriously, and I lolled on the bed.
A Night in Toronto
A sold-out run indicates another triumph for Against the Grain Theatre. Their Figaro's Wedding, with a new, updated and English libretto (which set it in Toronto), traversed that fine line between laughs and poignancy that is a hallmark of Mozart's original masterpiece. Set in a downtown wedding venue, with the audience as guests who moved between two rooms to enjoy the action, this was a fantastic evening of biting wit and beautiful music. This is the third production I've seen from this small and potent group, and I urge everyone not to miss whatever they come up with next.
Here's a sample of the catchy social media they have used so effectively to draw in the sold-out audiences.
Pre-show we had dinner at Pomegranate, somewhere I've always wanted to try, being a fan of Persian food. The lamb was very tender, in fact all the food was perfectly cooked, and there was lots of it. But there was something wanting in the food, a certainly blandness in everything, even though it all looked very colourful. The fact that the bread was very generic seemed to me to be unforgiveable. Toronto is a great bread town! I wonder if the chef is Persian? One of my companions doubted it. I enjoyed myself but am unlikely to return.
Here's a sample of the catchy social media they have used so effectively to draw in the sold-out audiences.
Pre-show we had dinner at Pomegranate, somewhere I've always wanted to try, being a fan of Persian food. The lamb was very tender, in fact all the food was perfectly cooked, and there was lots of it. But there was something wanting in the food, a certainly blandness in everything, even though it all looked very colourful. The fact that the bread was very generic seemed to me to be unforgiveable. Toronto is a great bread town! I wonder if the chef is Persian? One of my companions doubted it. I enjoyed myself but am unlikely to return.
Happy Birthday, Mister Maru!
On May 24, Maru turned 6. In case you don't know this interwebs sensation, Maru is the subject of one of Japan's most popular blogs, and a YouTube star. Handsome, well-loved, box-addicted and goofy... I give you Maru!
Two Lovely Women, Two Lovely Outings, Both Kind of Wrapped in Dim Sum... Attaching my Drool Cup as I Type
I went with a friend to the graduate show at the Ontario College of Art and Design... plus shopping for watercolour supplies at Above Ground Art Supplies which is right next door. Is there anything more alluring than the promise inside an art supply store? Well, I can think of a few things, if pushed, but I was in temptation heaven, and got all I need from that lovely, creaky old building. After, we retired to Sky Dragon in Chinatown, where it was too late to witness the little carts of dim sum being trolleyed around, but we still had a blow-out feast. I particularly enjoyed the steamed pea shoots. Gorrrr!
A week later my mother and I had a fantastic day together (ok, it was officially a Mother's Day celebration but we don't need to be told when to celebrate, but I don't mind another excuse). We visited a favourite museums, the Gardiner, and then saw Kon Tiki, a movie I'll blether on about in another post. Before the movie, we went to Lee Chen, which we had discovered together this past winter. It's on the west side of Yonge, just north of Bloor. The broth was as fresh and delicious as before, but this time we discovered the "bao," a Chinese sandwich you can build yourself, on a very soft, steamed bun. We had the pork option, deciding that for our next visit we'll try some of the others... a sort of bao taste test. Okay, my mouth is really watering. Let's just look at some pictures while I blot my chin. (Heh, heh, just kidding... sort of).
A week later my mother and I had a fantastic day together (ok, it was officially a Mother's Day celebration but we don't need to be told when to celebrate, but I don't mind another excuse). We visited a favourite museums, the Gardiner, and then saw Kon Tiki, a movie I'll blether on about in another post. Before the movie, we went to Lee Chen, which we had discovered together this past winter. It's on the west side of Yonge, just north of Bloor. The broth was as fresh and delicious as before, but this time we discovered the "bao," a Chinese sandwich you can build yourself, on a very soft, steamed bun. We had the pork option, deciding that for our next visit we'll try some of the others... a sort of bao taste test. Okay, my mouth is really watering. Let's just look at some pictures while I blot my chin. (Heh, heh, just kidding... sort of).
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Game-Changer
Peter Sellars is a rare talent, a brilliant director, and a loving and compassionate human being. I was lucky to attend this discussion and another. In both instances this last winter, where I got to hear him talk, he brought me to tears. Then I saw his production of Tristan und Isolde, and was blown away by this game-changing production. A large video screen dominated the stage, and showed video artist Bill Viola's stunning moving images. The singers, including Ben Heppner as Tristan, were accompanied sublimely by the COC Orchestra, and I felt those musical vibrations go right through me. Film + opera. My cup overflowed.
I've said it before on my blog - but for me the purpose of art is to take you places you weren't expecting to go. It's not always positive but it's always an adventure and sometimes (we hold out for those rare occasions) it's transformative.
Here's the video. I really hope you'll take the time to watch it. You don't have to be an opera fan!
I've said it before on my blog - but for me the purpose of art is to take you places you weren't expecting to go. It's not always positive but it's always an adventure and sometimes (we hold out for those rare occasions) it's transformative.
Here's the video. I really hope you'll take the time to watch it. You don't have to be an opera fan!
Friday, May 31, 2013
Heirloom Organic Tomatoes? Pfffff!
Buy locally and in season. That's the bottom line. These looked and sounded amazing. They were watery and tasteless. Pffff!
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Recent Shots from Toronto
They are, from top to bottom, left to right:
A parade calling for the legalization of medical marijuana. The smoke fumes were fun!
The ship channel off Cherry Street leads to a turning basin.
Spring tulips in St. James Cathedral gardens. There is one yellow tulip among all the mauve. I notice this discrepancy in all the masses of tulips the city plans in springtime, a planter's joke perhaps, or just the luck of the bulb draw? It's cute either way.
More tulips at the base of one of the downtown office towers.
The Lula Lounge, a great Latin-music club in the city.
Saucy bunnies in a Queen Street West window. At least they're getting their carrots.
A parade calling for the legalization of medical marijuana. The smoke fumes were fun!
The ship channel off Cherry Street leads to a turning basin.
Spring tulips in St. James Cathedral gardens. There is one yellow tulip among all the mauve. I notice this discrepancy in all the masses of tulips the city plans in springtime, a planter's joke perhaps, or just the luck of the bulb draw? It's cute either way.
More tulips at the base of one of the downtown office towers.
The Lula Lounge, a great Latin-music club in the city.
Saucy bunnies in a Queen Street West window. At least they're getting their carrots.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
BPG Winter 2013 Movie Awards
///UPDATED, because I forgot Lincoln!///
Again, this is a mixture of newly released and... newly discovered. This post is long overdue.
Least Annoying Supernatural Teen Romance Flick of the Past Few Years, Although That's not Saying Much
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
Lena: Ethan promise me one thing; it will be a perfectly normal human date.
Ethan: I swear. I won't even call you after the date.
Lena: Jerk.
Ethan: Witch
What do I remember about this? It's a supernatural teen love movie (ever heard of one of those?), which proves yet again that most British actors can't do good American-South accents. In this one it's the usually magnificent Jeremy Irons (who plays the teen witch's scenery-chewing dad), although I think the award for all-time worst southern accent goes to Charles Dance in China Moon (1994). With an impressive cast featuring Viola Davis, Emma Thompson and Eileen Atkins, the actress who plays Lena is Alice Englert, who happens to be Jane Campion's daughter. She's engaging and beautiful but not cookie-cutter, and I so wish she had been cast in the next movie I saw...
Movie Most Supportive of the Notion That When Something is in a Different Language, I cut it a lot of Slack
En kongelig affære (A Royal Affair, 2012)
Based on the true story of the love affair between the wife of Christian VII of Denmark (1749 – 1808) and his doctor, this movie provided us with the most oohs and aaahs as we delved into our iPhones after the movie had ended. So much of it was based on history that I knew nothing about. That was interesting. Obviously it's a period movie, and it was stunningly art directed and filmed. But Alicia Vikander as the queen was cast obviously for her lovely face and her wan expression. I wish an actress like Alice Englert had been cast instead, someone with some range and fire. I think Vikander's blandness would have translated even worse had it been in English. Sometimes the removal of a different language and an unknown history lends a certain alluring mystery to something that otherwise would appear fairly ordinary. And on that note...
Most Pleasing Depiction of Piercingly-Blue-Eyed, Tanned, Almost-Naked men Laying Around and Squinting into the Relentless Sun
Kon-Tiki (2012)
Torstein: Why are you feeding the sharks our tomato soup?
Well, let me explain right off the bat. Kon-Tiki was filmed simulataneously in Norwegian and in English. So each scene was shot twice. This move was apparently made to secure international funding. I would never watch a dubbed movie (ironic purposes or drinking games aside) but this wasn't dubbed. However, I wish I'd had the option in Toronto to see it in Norwegian and subtitled. I can't help thinking that, for the lead actor, especially, it would have provided a little more emotional range. That actor is Pål Sverre Hagen and he played Thor Heyerdahl (1914 - 2002) who sailed his famous balsa-wood raft from Peru to Polynesia to support his theory that those islands were settled from the east and not from the west.
The production values are fantastic. Brooklyn of the 1940s is depicted with great care and obviously a great amount of money went into this. No wonder the producers wanted serious international backing. There are many heart-stopping moments (I was with my mother and grasped her hands many times, squealing in terror), and also plenty of delicious ones, as toned, tanned Norwegian or Swedish men, named Bengt, Erik, Thor and Knut (love those names!) lay around in the sun-baked doldrums of the Pacific Ocean. Truly, this film gives a great insight into the very fears they must have faced alone with no modern technology in the middle of that vast water. I highly recommend this film, in English or Norwegian.
Second-Whitest Makeup Used on an Actress
The Bourne Legacy (2012)
Byer: Jason Bourne was just the tip of the iceberg.
I can't agree. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne was the iceberg. Jeremy Renner does a great job following up an unforgettable portrayal and the movie retains most of the stylish, timeless thriller atmosphere. A relief that David Strathairn is in it as my dad and I have a running gag about how we love it when he comes into the ops room or whatever and demands a 20-block lockdown. Also, David Strathairn is my secret boyfriend, just as Rachel Weisz is my secret girlfriend, and she's the female interest in the movie (but has some seriously overly white make-up on in the first few scenes at her house). Okay, so Jeremy Renner might not have taken off his shirt quite as often as a certain dear friend indicated to me (I'm looking at you Ms B!), but it was still nice when he did.
Most Eagerly Anticipated Movie of the Spring Which Got Ruined by Lousy 3D Side Effects
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
G: Yeesh, no more 3D for me!
Oh, how I wish I could you tell you more! Eagerly, I ordered my tickets weeks in advance, going for the 3D option. How excited we were as the cinema filled on opening night last Friday! How queasy we were not too far in, from the camera movement and the 3D lousiness! My companion M had to leave for a few minutes to settle his stomach. I had to take off my 3D glasses and watch the second half in blurriness. I think it was a really good movie, although it lacks the sweet surprises of discovering the new cast that we enjoyed in the previous film of this iteration. Sigh. Can't really say much else, except Benedict Cumberbatch is as strong as he always is. I might see it again to catch what I missed. Or I might not.
Most breathtaking art direction
Lincoln (2012)
Lincoln: Hmm. I reckon it's the speed that's strange to me. I'm used to going at a deliberate pace.
I know my pace, and I know my sleep patterns and how much snooze I need. But when, after a fantastic big Chinese meal, my friend suggested that we were certainly not too old to attend a 10:30 p.m. viewing of a movie, I was up for it! Except, I sort of wasn't. Chinese food + a dark, comfortable cinema = nap. Three naps. So I didn't see all of Lincoln. What I loved: THE CAST. Look them up - they were all superb. Also, the art direction was stunning. It didn't fall into the old Merchant-Ivory trap of making everything look the way we wished it had, the way we might imagine a previous time through our own romanticized glasses. I had a great sense of truth in the look, apart from the golden glow that always seemed to be shining in through drawn curtains, but that is a small detail. And all the other small details were brilliant, including - of course - Daniel Day Lewis's make up. Between that and his acting, it was an eerie recreation. My only quibble in the movie was the saintly aura in which Lincoln seemed to exist, and - with that brilliant makeup - it made him seem slightly apart. This might have been purposeful, but I didn't enjoy it. I relish a portrayal that is warts-and-all, one which shows the faults against which truly great people have to do their own personal battles. Of course, maybe that was in the movie and I slept through it. I'll see it again some time.
Most Friendship-Affirming and Most Likely to Make me Still Want to Live in a Repurposed Space
The Station Agent (2003)
Finbar: You said you weren't going to talk to me if I sat here, Joe.Joe: I haven't said anything in like twenty minutes.
Finbar: Nine.
Joe: You timed me?
Finbar: Mm-hmm.
Joe: That's cold, bro.
I always think this movie just came out about a year ago. I've been meaning to see it since it came out in 2003. It's scary how that time flew. This is a rare movie that I will want to see repeatedly. It's about the unexpected friendships and unexpected places that we might call home. In this case, an abandoned railway station. I've always harboured a dream to live in a home that has been repurposed from some other use. This movie is a gem.
Most Worth the Wait... But why did I Wait so Long???
The Producers (1968)
Roger De Bris: Ah, Bialystock and Bloom, I presume! Heh heh, forgive the pun!
Leo Bloom [to Max] What pun?
Max Bialystock: Shut up, he thinks he's witty.
Yes, it's taken me this long to see it. What can I say? Brilliantly funny, with a cast that I can't imagine being excelled. Zero Mostel's great sad eyes and lugubrious face are such a perfect foil to Gene Wilder's neurotic twitchiness. I loved it. Last Sunday PBS aired a special on director Mel Brooks' career as part of the American Masters series. It was fascinating. The man is incorrigible, and so achingly funny. If you can catch this documentary, it's a great insight into the tortured, driven pysche of a true original. And it never occured to me that the bean-eating, farting scene in Blazing Saddles really paved the way for the vulgar humour that was to follow in film. Thanks, Mel! No, really, thanks. :) Of course he is much more than that. Young Frankenstein remains one of my top twelve.
Movie That Most had me Expecting Less Than Nothing, but Caused me to Come Away Pleasantly Surprised.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Gandalf: I'm looking for someone to share an adventure.
I was miffed to discover on opening night (I had tix all lined up with my three good movie pals), that The Hobbit had been made into three movies, which reeked to me of a cash grab... and that the extremely high-resolution film of this first instalment actually showed up the flaws in the sets and props. After a fun dinner at our favourite Giorgio's, we got in line for The Hobbit - and I had a great time! Yes, it's a bit slow, but there's lots of interesting stuff to look at. Yes that final chase scene in the caves was ridiculous and overlong but I'll be back to see the other two instalments, hopefully with the same little movie gang.
Most Unexpected and Haunting Sci-Fi Action Thriller
Looper (2012)
Abe: This time travel crap, just fries your brain like a egg...
This is why I need to blog more regularly. I saw this many months ago. So, yes, I've lost a lot of detail, but it stayed with me more than most movies. I believe it's the first science-fiction film to open the Toronto International Film Festival, and I suppose that's saying something about it, something about its thoughtfulness and a certain unexpected demand of the brain. Time travel is tricky. How to make sense of the effects of time, of being in the same moment as yourself from the future, or the past. God... imagine if you could meet yourself from another time, which would it be? I'll think on that later, although my immediate response would be to meet myself from the future, to learn from mistakes I am most apt to make, to try and avoid them. I'm intrigued by time travel, and rarely miss an opportunity to indulge in the many filmic and literary fantasies that explore it. Looper has some major spoiler opportunities, so I won't say much, just that the concept is fascinating, the acting is sharp, Emily Blunt (one of this blog's favourites) is riveting, and fine prosthetic work on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's nose goes a long way to making the story work.
Best Movie of the Year to Reference the Icelandic Sagas (and therefore Wagner's Ring Cycle)... oh Hell, it's just the Best Movie of the Year - Period
Django Unchained (2012)
Django: The D is silent.
Another great Tarantino, in this case a passionate, funny, gobsmacking, brutally violent homage to the spaghetti western, complete with rapid zoom shots, cheesy 60s music and a cameo by Franco Nero. Jamie Foxx is relentlessly virtuosic and intense in the lead role of a slave searching for his wife. Christoph Walz is overwhelmingly charming as his German companion who buys Django's freedom. One of the best movies of the year and a powerful hero quest. Unless you can't handle any sort of violence, SEE IT!
Whitest Make-up Used on an Actress... Plus Movie I Most Didn't Expect to Like, but I did, but I Sort of Wish I Didn't
Black Swan (2010)
Beth: Perfect? I'm not perfect. I'm nothing.
I didn't expect to enjoy this. I had managed to avoid seeing it. Then it was on television one evening, and I started watching. Half an hour later, I was sitting on the edge of my sofa, transfixed. I'm not entirely sure why. None of the cast interests me (except for Barbara Hershey), and the dramas of strung-out ballerinas is overplayed for the most part in most depictions on film. But in all the neurotic overwrought hysteria, there is something viscerally gripping and morbidly fascinating about this film. Even as I type this, my lip is curling a little in distaste. But... there's nothing else quite like it in my memory. I'm glad I saw it.
Most Surprising, Moving, and Unexpected Animated Film
Mary and Max (2009)
Max (to Mary): You are my best friend. You are my only friend.
The screenplay by director Adam Elliot is magic: eccentric, heartfelt, deeply human. The stop-start animation (claymation I guess) is in a washed out, almost greyscale colour scheme. The voices are beautifully cast in this moving tale of a little Australian girl and a middle-aged New York man, who come together as pen pals and take us on a journey into their - and our - hearts. As for the soundtrack, I'll never again hear the Humming Chorus from Madama Butterfly the same way.
So? Did you see any of these? Come on - I have lots of readers, but most of you are kind of shy I guess. I'd love to know your opinions!
And one more: don't bother seeing or even renting Hotel Transylvania. It has its sweet moments, and I had such high hopes, but in the end it's 91 minutes I'll never get back.
Again, this is a mixture of newly released and... newly discovered. This post is long overdue.
Least Annoying Supernatural Teen Romance Flick of the Past Few Years, Although That's not Saying Much
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
Lena: Ethan promise me one thing; it will be a perfectly normal human date.
Ethan: I swear. I won't even call you after the date.
Lena: Jerk.
Ethan: Witch
What do I remember about this? It's a supernatural teen love movie (ever heard of one of those?), which proves yet again that most British actors can't do good American-South accents. In this one it's the usually magnificent Jeremy Irons (who plays the teen witch's scenery-chewing dad), although I think the award for all-time worst southern accent goes to Charles Dance in China Moon (1994). With an impressive cast featuring Viola Davis, Emma Thompson and Eileen Atkins, the actress who plays Lena is Alice Englert, who happens to be Jane Campion's daughter. She's engaging and beautiful but not cookie-cutter, and I so wish she had been cast in the next movie I saw...
Movie Most Supportive of the Notion That When Something is in a Different Language, I cut it a lot of Slack
En kongelig affære (A Royal Affair, 2012)
Based on the true story of the love affair between the wife of Christian VII of Denmark (1749 – 1808) and his doctor, this movie provided us with the most oohs and aaahs as we delved into our iPhones after the movie had ended. So much of it was based on history that I knew nothing about. That was interesting. Obviously it's a period movie, and it was stunningly art directed and filmed. But Alicia Vikander as the queen was cast obviously for her lovely face and her wan expression. I wish an actress like Alice Englert had been cast instead, someone with some range and fire. I think Vikander's blandness would have translated even worse had it been in English. Sometimes the removal of a different language and an unknown history lends a certain alluring mystery to something that otherwise would appear fairly ordinary. And on that note...
Most Pleasing Depiction of Piercingly-Blue-Eyed, Tanned, Almost-Naked men Laying Around and Squinting into the Relentless Sun
Kon-Tiki (2012)
Torstein: Why are you feeding the sharks our tomato soup?
Well, let me explain right off the bat. Kon-Tiki was filmed simulataneously in Norwegian and in English. So each scene was shot twice. This move was apparently made to secure international funding. I would never watch a dubbed movie (ironic purposes or drinking games aside) but this wasn't dubbed. However, I wish I'd had the option in Toronto to see it in Norwegian and subtitled. I can't help thinking that, for the lead actor, especially, it would have provided a little more emotional range. That actor is Pål Sverre Hagen and he played Thor Heyerdahl (1914 - 2002) who sailed his famous balsa-wood raft from Peru to Polynesia to support his theory that those islands were settled from the east and not from the west.
The production values are fantastic. Brooklyn of the 1940s is depicted with great care and obviously a great amount of money went into this. No wonder the producers wanted serious international backing. There are many heart-stopping moments (I was with my mother and grasped her hands many times, squealing in terror), and also plenty of delicious ones, as toned, tanned Norwegian or Swedish men, named Bengt, Erik, Thor and Knut (love those names!) lay around in the sun-baked doldrums of the Pacific Ocean. Truly, this film gives a great insight into the very fears they must have faced alone with no modern technology in the middle of that vast water. I highly recommend this film, in English or Norwegian.
Second-Whitest Makeup Used on an Actress
The Bourne Legacy (2012)
Byer: Jason Bourne was just the tip of the iceberg.
I can't agree. Matt Damon as Jason Bourne was the iceberg. Jeremy Renner does a great job following up an unforgettable portrayal and the movie retains most of the stylish, timeless thriller atmosphere. A relief that David Strathairn is in it as my dad and I have a running gag about how we love it when he comes into the ops room or whatever and demands a 20-block lockdown. Also, David Strathairn is my secret boyfriend, just as Rachel Weisz is my secret girlfriend, and she's the female interest in the movie (but has some seriously overly white make-up on in the first few scenes at her house). Okay, so Jeremy Renner might not have taken off his shirt quite as often as a certain dear friend indicated to me (I'm looking at you Ms B!), but it was still nice when he did.
Most Eagerly Anticipated Movie of the Spring Which Got Ruined by Lousy 3D Side Effects
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
G: Yeesh, no more 3D for me!
Oh, how I wish I could you tell you more! Eagerly, I ordered my tickets weeks in advance, going for the 3D option. How excited we were as the cinema filled on opening night last Friday! How queasy we were not too far in, from the camera movement and the 3D lousiness! My companion M had to leave for a few minutes to settle his stomach. I had to take off my 3D glasses and watch the second half in blurriness. I think it was a really good movie, although it lacks the sweet surprises of discovering the new cast that we enjoyed in the previous film of this iteration. Sigh. Can't really say much else, except Benedict Cumberbatch is as strong as he always is. I might see it again to catch what I missed. Or I might not.
Most breathtaking art direction
Lincoln (2012)
Lincoln: Hmm. I reckon it's the speed that's strange to me. I'm used to going at a deliberate pace.
I know my pace, and I know my sleep patterns and how much snooze I need. But when, after a fantastic big Chinese meal, my friend suggested that we were certainly not too old to attend a 10:30 p.m. viewing of a movie, I was up for it! Except, I sort of wasn't. Chinese food + a dark, comfortable cinema = nap. Three naps. So I didn't see all of Lincoln. What I loved: THE CAST. Look them up - they were all superb. Also, the art direction was stunning. It didn't fall into the old Merchant-Ivory trap of making everything look the way we wished it had, the way we might imagine a previous time through our own romanticized glasses. I had a great sense of truth in the look, apart from the golden glow that always seemed to be shining in through drawn curtains, but that is a small detail. And all the other small details were brilliant, including - of course - Daniel Day Lewis's make up. Between that and his acting, it was an eerie recreation. My only quibble in the movie was the saintly aura in which Lincoln seemed to exist, and - with that brilliant makeup - it made him seem slightly apart. This might have been purposeful, but I didn't enjoy it. I relish a portrayal that is warts-and-all, one which shows the faults against which truly great people have to do their own personal battles. Of course, maybe that was in the movie and I slept through it. I'll see it again some time.
Most Friendship-Affirming and Most Likely to Make me Still Want to Live in a Repurposed Space
The Station Agent (2003)
Finbar: You said you weren't going to talk to me if I sat here, Joe.Joe: I haven't said anything in like twenty minutes.
Finbar: Nine.
Joe: You timed me?
Finbar: Mm-hmm.
Joe: That's cold, bro.
I always think this movie just came out about a year ago. I've been meaning to see it since it came out in 2003. It's scary how that time flew. This is a rare movie that I will want to see repeatedly. It's about the unexpected friendships and unexpected places that we might call home. In this case, an abandoned railway station. I've always harboured a dream to live in a home that has been repurposed from some other use. This movie is a gem.
Most Worth the Wait... But why did I Wait so Long???
The Producers (1968)
Roger De Bris: Ah, Bialystock and Bloom, I presume! Heh heh, forgive the pun!
Leo Bloom [to Max] What pun?
Max Bialystock: Shut up, he thinks he's witty.
Yes, it's taken me this long to see it. What can I say? Brilliantly funny, with a cast that I can't imagine being excelled. Zero Mostel's great sad eyes and lugubrious face are such a perfect foil to Gene Wilder's neurotic twitchiness. I loved it. Last Sunday PBS aired a special on director Mel Brooks' career as part of the American Masters series. It was fascinating. The man is incorrigible, and so achingly funny. If you can catch this documentary, it's a great insight into the tortured, driven pysche of a true original. And it never occured to me that the bean-eating, farting scene in Blazing Saddles really paved the way for the vulgar humour that was to follow in film. Thanks, Mel! No, really, thanks. :) Of course he is much more than that. Young Frankenstein remains one of my top twelve.
Movie That Most had me Expecting Less Than Nothing, but Caused me to Come Away Pleasantly Surprised.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
Gandalf: I'm looking for someone to share an adventure.
I was miffed to discover on opening night (I had tix all lined up with my three good movie pals), that The Hobbit had been made into three movies, which reeked to me of a cash grab... and that the extremely high-resolution film of this first instalment actually showed up the flaws in the sets and props. After a fun dinner at our favourite Giorgio's, we got in line for The Hobbit - and I had a great time! Yes, it's a bit slow, but there's lots of interesting stuff to look at. Yes that final chase scene in the caves was ridiculous and overlong but I'll be back to see the other two instalments, hopefully with the same little movie gang.
Most Unexpected and Haunting Sci-Fi Action Thriller
Looper (2012)
Abe: This time travel crap, just fries your brain like a egg...
This is why I need to blog more regularly. I saw this many months ago. So, yes, I've lost a lot of detail, but it stayed with me more than most movies. I believe it's the first science-fiction film to open the Toronto International Film Festival, and I suppose that's saying something about it, something about its thoughtfulness and a certain unexpected demand of the brain. Time travel is tricky. How to make sense of the effects of time, of being in the same moment as yourself from the future, or the past. God... imagine if you could meet yourself from another time, which would it be? I'll think on that later, although my immediate response would be to meet myself from the future, to learn from mistakes I am most apt to make, to try and avoid them. I'm intrigued by time travel, and rarely miss an opportunity to indulge in the many filmic and literary fantasies that explore it. Looper has some major spoiler opportunities, so I won't say much, just that the concept is fascinating, the acting is sharp, Emily Blunt (one of this blog's favourites) is riveting, and fine prosthetic work on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's nose goes a long way to making the story work.
Best Movie of the Year to Reference the Icelandic Sagas (and therefore Wagner's Ring Cycle)... oh Hell, it's just the Best Movie of the Year - Period
Django Unchained (2012)
Django: The D is silent.
Another great Tarantino, in this case a passionate, funny, gobsmacking, brutally violent homage to the spaghetti western, complete with rapid zoom shots, cheesy 60s music and a cameo by Franco Nero. Jamie Foxx is relentlessly virtuosic and intense in the lead role of a slave searching for his wife. Christoph Walz is overwhelmingly charming as his German companion who buys Django's freedom. One of the best movies of the year and a powerful hero quest. Unless you can't handle any sort of violence, SEE IT!
Whitest Make-up Used on an Actress... Plus Movie I Most Didn't Expect to Like, but I did, but I Sort of Wish I Didn't
Black Swan (2010)
Beth: Perfect? I'm not perfect. I'm nothing.
I didn't expect to enjoy this. I had managed to avoid seeing it. Then it was on television one evening, and I started watching. Half an hour later, I was sitting on the edge of my sofa, transfixed. I'm not entirely sure why. None of the cast interests me (except for Barbara Hershey), and the dramas of strung-out ballerinas is overplayed for the most part in most depictions on film. But in all the neurotic overwrought hysteria, there is something viscerally gripping and morbidly fascinating about this film. Even as I type this, my lip is curling a little in distaste. But... there's nothing else quite like it in my memory. I'm glad I saw it.
Most Surprising, Moving, and Unexpected Animated Film
Mary and Max (2009)
Max (to Mary): You are my best friend. You are my only friend.
The screenplay by director Adam Elliot is magic: eccentric, heartfelt, deeply human. The stop-start animation (claymation I guess) is in a washed out, almost greyscale colour scheme. The voices are beautifully cast in this moving tale of a little Australian girl and a middle-aged New York man, who come together as pen pals and take us on a journey into their - and our - hearts. As for the soundtrack, I'll never again hear the Humming Chorus from Madama Butterfly the same way.
So? Did you see any of these? Come on - I have lots of readers, but most of you are kind of shy I guess. I'd love to know your opinions!
And one more: don't bother seeing or even renting Hotel Transylvania. It has its sweet moments, and I had such high hopes, but in the end it's 91 minutes I'll never get back.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Fun with Shiny Things
As you can tell, I've been having fun with memory wire (for bracelets). The red bracelet was a gift for my mum, the other two are... er, mine... and then the necklace (also mine) is my first attempt to make a chain using silver wire and Swarovski crystals. Too much fun. If this goes on, I'll have to open an Etsy shop.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Bright Evening full of Promise
I finished a 14-hour work day last Friday, and now the recent super busyness is slowing. Now I can revel in these long, light evenings. Tonight I was at home and it felt so good. Django Reinhardt was my soundtrack. White daisies brought even more light in. Lemon poundcake perfumed my home. The cake is for work tomorrow. My treat was to lick the new red spatula.
(The old one was retired a couple of months back when a bit of it broke off into the batter I was stirring! The new one is shown with the freshly whipped butter and sugar. There are few more promising beginnings than butter and sugar together, except of course my favourite: onions softening in butter. My mouth just watered.)
(The old one was retired a couple of months back when a bit of it broke off into the batter I was stirring! The new one is shown with the freshly whipped butter and sugar. There are few more promising beginnings than butter and sugar together, except of course my favourite: onions softening in butter. My mouth just watered.)
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Downton Abbeython, part two
A recent convert to Downtonmania, last night was our second in the Downton Catchupathon. My friends and I watched the first EIGHT episodes of season two (all we have left of that season is the two-hour Christmas special). We started at 4 p.m., and - with breaks to catch up with each other and take bathroom breaks - were done by nearly 2 a.m. We just... couldn't... stop... watching.
There were moments we had to replay, gasping with laughter or delight. Parts were so moving. I think I might have to own this on DVD. I have done a complete 180 degree turn from my scornful disinterest in the series. It is the most sublime soap opera.
Next Saturday... we finish season two and get through a chunk of season three.
John Bates? I STILL LOVE YOU.
There were moments we had to replay, gasping with laughter or delight. Parts were so moving. I think I might have to own this on DVD. I have done a complete 180 degree turn from my scornful disinterest in the series. It is the most sublime soap opera.
Next Saturday... we finish season two and get through a chunk of season three.
John Bates? I STILL LOVE YOU.
Recent Music, Theatre
The National Theatre presented This House, a new play by James Graham, which covered five years (1974 - 1979) in the House of Commons and, most particuarly, the offices of the party whips. I'm hopelessly ignorant when it comes to politics, but this was the play for me. The art of the possible was made furious, funny and fast-paced. Time flew and I laughed and gasped and ruminated over that very troubled time in Britain's history. Thank you to NTLive for making it possible to see in Toronto!
The ARC Ensemble is a blog favourite. I was lucky to see them in performance the week before they took the same program to Wigmore Hall in London. From the program: "The ensemble plays a leading role in unearthing repertoire that has been suppressed or ignored due to political circumstances, or shifts in musical fashion, and its work has received unanimous acclaim from the world's cultural press." Currently, the ensemble's "Music in Exile" series "explores the music of composers who were forced to flee Europe during the 1930s..." I have never attended a performance of this ensemble that wasn't absolutely riveting. I urge you to see them whenever you can. As for the performance I saw, we heard works by Weinberg, Laks, Mendelssohn (a manuscript fragment completed by pianist David Louie, an ARC Ensemble member), and finally Ben-Haim's Piano Quartet in C Minor (1921), which was, if I had to pick one, the highlight. ARC Ensemble CDs are Grammy-nominated and you can buy from links on here. The good news is that they've just recorded a new CD, entirely of Ben-Haim's work, which is due for release this summer. For more of the performance I saw, you can read an excellent review here, which says it all much better than I could.
Much community theatre in Toronto proves that it isn't necessary how much you spend on a ticket or whether or not your performers are paid... you will still see really good theatre! I had a wonderful time at Etobicoke Musical Production's The Drowsy Chaperone, an affectionate and witty musical homage to Cole Porter and the Gershwins. The story behind the making of this piece is worthy of a musical itself! Originally a stag-night sketch, it then moved to the Toronto Fringe Festival, then to a large-scale Mirvish production, and finally Broadway, where it won Tony awards for Best Book and Best Score! The show itself is froth and fun, and especially enjoyed if you know some of those classical shows. Outstanding in this production (directed by the virtuosic Mario D'Alimonte) was Man in Chair, the narrator of the piece, played by Trevor Cartlidge.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been a big hit for the Royal Ballet and was a sell-out during both its runs here in Toronto at the National Ballet of Canada. I saw it in another HD transmission, and it was a riot.
Joby Talbot wrote the music for Alice, as he did for his Path of Miracles, which I saw performed by the virtuosic Elmer Iseler Singers a few weeks ago. Path of Miracles is performed a cappella and describes "the ancient Christian pilgrimage across Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the city whose cathedral is the supposed resting place of St. James." The performance was preceded by a presentation from Barbara Manners, a woman who has done the walk and showed us slides that had me yearning to strap on some walking boots, even after she showed us one of an award-winning blister. The performance itself was mesmerizing. For those of you who don't live in Canada and haven't heard of them, they're a 20-voice chamber choir who record and perform widely - not to be missed if possible!
A group of us attended the launch of Eliana Cuevas's new CD, Espejo. Catch her if you can!
P. S. On the side, Eliana is also our Spanish teacher!
I indulged my opera appetite with three great productions at the COC this spring: Lucia di Lammermoor, Dialogues des Carmélites, and Salome (twice, as I had to see this blog's favourite bass-baritone, Alan Held, who didn't sing the first performance I saw, but sang later ones). Carmélites provided a lesson for me - on the importance of seeing any performance live. I watch the Met in HD and the National Theatre from London the same way because it's way cheaper than me flying there every few weeks! Let's face it - that's not going to happen. But when you see anything filmed, you are being told what to focus on by the broadcast director. I saw how this works particuarly with Carmélites, as the COC was performing the same production I had watched on DVD from La Scala. There is no comparison. The live experience was extraordinary, under the genius direction of Robert Carsen. I've seen this opera three times before, and it remains as powerful as ever. The ending is one of the greatest in all theatre.
The ARC Ensemble is a blog favourite. I was lucky to see them in performance the week before they took the same program to Wigmore Hall in London. From the program: "The ensemble plays a leading role in unearthing repertoire that has been suppressed or ignored due to political circumstances, or shifts in musical fashion, and its work has received unanimous acclaim from the world's cultural press." Currently, the ensemble's "Music in Exile" series "explores the music of composers who were forced to flee Europe during the 1930s..." I have never attended a performance of this ensemble that wasn't absolutely riveting. I urge you to see them whenever you can. As for the performance I saw, we heard works by Weinberg, Laks, Mendelssohn (a manuscript fragment completed by pianist David Louie, an ARC Ensemble member), and finally Ben-Haim's Piano Quartet in C Minor (1921), which was, if I had to pick one, the highlight. ARC Ensemble CDs are Grammy-nominated and you can buy from links on here. The good news is that they've just recorded a new CD, entirely of Ben-Haim's work, which is due for release this summer. For more of the performance I saw, you can read an excellent review here, which says it all much better than I could.
Much community theatre in Toronto proves that it isn't necessary how much you spend on a ticket or whether or not your performers are paid... you will still see really good theatre! I had a wonderful time at Etobicoke Musical Production's The Drowsy Chaperone, an affectionate and witty musical homage to Cole Porter and the Gershwins. The story behind the making of this piece is worthy of a musical itself! Originally a stag-night sketch, it then moved to the Toronto Fringe Festival, then to a large-scale Mirvish production, and finally Broadway, where it won Tony awards for Best Book and Best Score! The show itself is froth and fun, and especially enjoyed if you know some of those classical shows. Outstanding in this production (directed by the virtuosic Mario D'Alimonte) was Man in Chair, the narrator of the piece, played by Trevor Cartlidge.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has been a big hit for the Royal Ballet and was a sell-out during both its runs here in Toronto at the National Ballet of Canada. I saw it in another HD transmission, and it was a riot.
Joby Talbot wrote the music for Alice, as he did for his Path of Miracles, which I saw performed by the virtuosic Elmer Iseler Singers a few weeks ago. Path of Miracles is performed a cappella and describes "the ancient Christian pilgrimage across Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela, the city whose cathedral is the supposed resting place of St. James." The performance was preceded by a presentation from Barbara Manners, a woman who has done the walk and showed us slides that had me yearning to strap on some walking boots, even after she showed us one of an award-winning blister. The performance itself was mesmerizing. For those of you who don't live in Canada and haven't heard of them, they're a 20-voice chamber choir who record and perform widely - not to be missed if possible!
A group of us attended the launch of Eliana Cuevas's new CD, Espejo. Catch her if you can!
P. S. On the side, Eliana is also our Spanish teacher!
I indulged my opera appetite with three great productions at the COC this spring: Lucia di Lammermoor, Dialogues des Carmélites, and Salome (twice, as I had to see this blog's favourite bass-baritone, Alan Held, who didn't sing the first performance I saw, but sang later ones). Carmélites provided a lesson for me - on the importance of seeing any performance live. I watch the Met in HD and the National Theatre from London the same way because it's way cheaper than me flying there every few weeks! Let's face it - that's not going to happen. But when you see anything filmed, you are being told what to focus on by the broadcast director. I saw how this works particuarly with Carmélites, as the COC was performing the same production I had watched on DVD from La Scala. There is no comparison. The live experience was extraordinary, under the genius direction of Robert Carsen. I've seen this opera three times before, and it remains as powerful as ever. The ending is one of the greatest in all theatre.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Cherry Blossoms
Every year they're taller. This year, spring was late. But I had a sense when I should visit this little knoll on Cherry Street. We got there when the blossoms were at their fullest, fattest, whitest, most glorious. As you can see, the branches were thick with them, as though they were bursting with blossoms. I couldn't bear to leave. There were so many good pictures, and these are just a few.
After a return of blustery weather, it was three days before I went back and they were all gone. Chilly nights have returned, and yesterday morning on my way to work I wore a winter coat! But next week's forecast calls for warmer days. Hopefully... just in time for June.
After a return of blustery weather, it was three days before I went back and they were all gone. Chilly nights have returned, and yesterday morning on my way to work I wore a winter coat! But next week's forecast calls for warmer days. Hopefully... just in time for June.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Spring Came Suddenly
Spring came overnight it seemed. One day I was on a train, and things looked like this.
The next day, it looked like this.
Although... my iPhone claimed I was in the middle of Lake St. Clair, so maybe it was all a dream.
The next day, it looked like this.
Although... my iPhone claimed I was in the middle of Lake St. Clair, so maybe it was all a dream.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Tea's Hot!
Anyone who knows me in person knows I'm a bit of a tea fusspot. Years ago I would make my own blend of Earl Grey and Assam. Then it was Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Then caffeine had to go so it was chamomile. Then it was rooiboss. Then peppermint, and I went off chamomile big time. Now it's rooiboss again. Blimey. I don't like to be a bother, so I've taken to carrying around my own bags so that no-one need worry about it. Even restaurants seem relieved.
Further to that is the quest for the right teapot. I'm so excited about my recent purchase from Rock Pond Pottery on their Etsy site. The pot in question is supposed to be drip resistant, and it has not dripped once! A built in strainer captures larger-leaved teas (like my lovely lemon balm, oh, yes, I didn't mention that). A clever ergonomic handle with separate thumb rest means that a full pot is not a problem to lift, even if the handle gets wet. The lid is designed to not fall out when the pot is tilted, and the lavendery/goldy colour quite literally calms me. I love its round sauciness. This pot has personality.
I HEART my new teapot! Here's a cuppa to many happy years. Only problem is... I have my eye on another one from the same site. Hee hee!
Further to that is the quest for the right teapot. I'm so excited about my recent purchase from Rock Pond Pottery on their Etsy site. The pot in question is supposed to be drip resistant, and it has not dripped once! A built in strainer captures larger-leaved teas (like my lovely lemon balm, oh, yes, I didn't mention that). A clever ergonomic handle with separate thumb rest means that a full pot is not a problem to lift, even if the handle gets wet. The lid is designed to not fall out when the pot is tilted, and the lavendery/goldy colour quite literally calms me. I love its round sauciness. This pot has personality.
I HEART my new teapot! Here's a cuppa to many happy years. Only problem is... I have my eye on another one from the same site. Hee hee!
The Best News!
From nocasinotoronto.com
No Casino Toronto victorious as Toronto City Council votes “No Casino”
May 21, 2013
Toronto — A gruelling campaign launched by No Casino Toronto that remained focused on the facts and true to its grassroots beginnings more than a year ago can claim victory in defeating a proposed casino in downtown Toronto. A large majority of city councillors rejected the idea outright at a special council meeting today.
“The people have spoken loud and clear and a majority of councillors agree with the overwhelming public sentiment that a Toronto mega-casino is not where we want to take our city. We can do better,” said Maureen Lynett, co-founder of No Casino Toronto.
The campaign elicited a tremendous outpouring of public support that ranks among the biggest acts of civic engagement in Toronto’s history:
- A petition presented at council today included the names of 22,000 Torontonians opposed to a downtown casino
- An unprecedented coalition of faith leaders of all major religions spoke out in unison against the expansion of gambling in the GTA
- Social media activated widespread support and volunteerism
- Business leaders from major Toronto companies opposed a casino
- The Rotman School of Business at University of Toronto provided evidence-based research against a casino for downtown Toronto
- 3000 lawn signs were placed throughout the city
“We are so grateful for the willingness of so many Torontonians who spoke out against a casino and who committed many hours volunteering,” said No Casino Toronto co-founder Sheila Lynett.
No Casino Toronto was launched in the spring of 2012 by three women to oppose the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission’s aggressive attempt to spread gambling throughout the province and specifically, the stated goal of locating a mega-casino in Toronto. Numerous cities in the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario have also rejected the government agency’s entreaty to accept a casino in their jurisdictions, including Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington, Kitchener, Cambridge, Barrie and Collingwood.
“The OLG positioned this as a race among cities to win the prize of hosting a casino when in fact it turned out to be a race to the bottom – which loser city was going to be stuck with all the problems that are clearly linked to casinos, from preying on the most vulnerable to gutting local businesses, to the presence of organized crime,” said the third co-founder, Peggy Calvert.
The grassroots campaign had the hallmarks of a David versus Goliath battle, where citizens mobilized against the deep pockets of the Ontario Government under the direction of a previous leader, numerous Las Vegas casino operators and other interests.
“It went on longer than anyone expected,” affirmed Maureen Lynett after battling the casino for over a year. “We’re glad to see it over and especially gratified Torontonians, who already voted against a casino in a referendum some years ago, remain strongly opposed today.”
No Casino Toronto victorious as Toronto City Council votes “No Casino”
May 21, 2013
Toronto — A gruelling campaign launched by No Casino Toronto that remained focused on the facts and true to its grassroots beginnings more than a year ago can claim victory in defeating a proposed casino in downtown Toronto. A large majority of city councillors rejected the idea outright at a special council meeting today.
“The people have spoken loud and clear and a majority of councillors agree with the overwhelming public sentiment that a Toronto mega-casino is not where we want to take our city. We can do better,” said Maureen Lynett, co-founder of No Casino Toronto.
The campaign elicited a tremendous outpouring of public support that ranks among the biggest acts of civic engagement in Toronto’s history:
- A petition presented at council today included the names of 22,000 Torontonians opposed to a downtown casino
- An unprecedented coalition of faith leaders of all major religions spoke out in unison against the expansion of gambling in the GTA
- Social media activated widespread support and volunteerism
- Business leaders from major Toronto companies opposed a casino
- The Rotman School of Business at University of Toronto provided evidence-based research against a casino for downtown Toronto
- 3000 lawn signs were placed throughout the city
“We are so grateful for the willingness of so many Torontonians who spoke out against a casino and who committed many hours volunteering,” said No Casino Toronto co-founder Sheila Lynett.
No Casino Toronto was launched in the spring of 2012 by three women to oppose the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission’s aggressive attempt to spread gambling throughout the province and specifically, the stated goal of locating a mega-casino in Toronto. Numerous cities in the Greater Toronto Area and southern Ontario have also rejected the government agency’s entreaty to accept a casino in their jurisdictions, including Markham, Richmond Hill, Oakville, Burlington, Kitchener, Cambridge, Barrie and Collingwood.
“The OLG positioned this as a race among cities to win the prize of hosting a casino when in fact it turned out to be a race to the bottom – which loser city was going to be stuck with all the problems that are clearly linked to casinos, from preying on the most vulnerable to gutting local businesses, to the presence of organized crime,” said the third co-founder, Peggy Calvert.
The grassroots campaign had the hallmarks of a David versus Goliath battle, where citizens mobilized against the deep pockets of the Ontario Government under the direction of a previous leader, numerous Las Vegas casino operators and other interests.
“It went on longer than anyone expected,” affirmed Maureen Lynett after battling the casino for over a year. “We’re glad to see it over and especially gratified Torontonians, who already voted against a casino in a referendum some years ago, remain strongly opposed today.”
It's Back!
I read a book!
I got my reading mojo back!
Okay, so what's the big deal? Well, for some reason, I stopped reading about a year ago. It happened the third time I tried reading Diana Gabaldon's An Echo in the Bone. I got about 200 pages in three times, and gave up. I've enjoyed the Outlander series very much, and have really cared about her wonderfully written characters, but at this point I think a strong editor should have done some hacking and hewing. This inability to finish a lengthy book unnerved me. Then I didn't want to read anything. I literally haven't completed a book in over a year, although there have been some false starts.
But a few weekends ago, with eight hours of train travel to sit through, I read one whole book. World War Z. Yep. A zombie apocalypse novel. But if that's what it took, that's what it took. And I enjoyed it! It's a zippy read, and you can see why it's spawning a movie, although I have it on good authority (thank you Mr. E.) that it probably doesn't follow the book too closely. I don't see a role in the book for Brad Pitt, but I'm sure the producers were all over fixing that little problem... one of whom is... Brad Pitt!
Last night I finished the Booker Prize-nominated The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by actress/playwright/author (which makes her pretty darned amazing) Rachel Joyce. A retired man, numbed and dull in his lonely marriage, receives an unexpected letter from an old friend who is dying. He's in England's southwest, she's in the northern most town in England, just south of the Scottish border. He writes a quick, restrained letter and sets out to put it in the corner postbox. Except he doesn't. He walks to the next postbox, and then the next. He keeps walking. I won't say anymore, but I do urge you to read it. It's inspiring, moving, funny and left me in buckets of tears last night when I finished it just before midnight (yesterday's neck crick wasn't helped by reading so long in bed - woke to a full-blown spasm).
Thank you, Barbara, for lending it to me! And thank you, Laura, for lending me Audrey Niffenegger's novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. She wrote The Time-Traveler's Wife, which I raved about here. So I'm excited! I start it tonight.
Reading is a great expander of mind and heart. I am so happy and relieved I'm reading again.
I got my reading mojo back!
Okay, so what's the big deal? Well, for some reason, I stopped reading about a year ago. It happened the third time I tried reading Diana Gabaldon's An Echo in the Bone. I got about 200 pages in three times, and gave up. I've enjoyed the Outlander series very much, and have really cared about her wonderfully written characters, but at this point I think a strong editor should have done some hacking and hewing. This inability to finish a lengthy book unnerved me. Then I didn't want to read anything. I literally haven't completed a book in over a year, although there have been some false starts.
But a few weekends ago, with eight hours of train travel to sit through, I read one whole book. World War Z. Yep. A zombie apocalypse novel. But if that's what it took, that's what it took. And I enjoyed it! It's a zippy read, and you can see why it's spawning a movie, although I have it on good authority (thank you Mr. E.) that it probably doesn't follow the book too closely. I don't see a role in the book for Brad Pitt, but I'm sure the producers were all over fixing that little problem... one of whom is... Brad Pitt!
Last night I finished the Booker Prize-nominated The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by actress/playwright/author (which makes her pretty darned amazing) Rachel Joyce. A retired man, numbed and dull in his lonely marriage, receives an unexpected letter from an old friend who is dying. He's in England's southwest, she's in the northern most town in England, just south of the Scottish border. He writes a quick, restrained letter and sets out to put it in the corner postbox. Except he doesn't. He walks to the next postbox, and then the next. He keeps walking. I won't say anymore, but I do urge you to read it. It's inspiring, moving, funny and left me in buckets of tears last night when I finished it just before midnight (yesterday's neck crick wasn't helped by reading so long in bed - woke to a full-blown spasm).
Thank you, Barbara, for lending it to me! And thank you, Laura, for lending me Audrey Niffenegger's novel, Her Fearful Symmetry. She wrote The Time-Traveler's Wife, which I raved about here. So I'm excited! I start it tonight.
Reading is a great expander of mind and heart. I am so happy and relieved I'm reading again.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Southen Accent, Art, Music
I was attending the opening of a friend's art show on Markham Street and when we came out, inspired and hungry, I saw the sign for Southern Accent a few doors north. I'd forgotten all about it; I guess the last time I'd eaten there must have been about 12 years ago at least.
The blackened chicken livers were recommended to me then, and I had them again. SO GOOD. Served with garlic toasts and swimming in butter. Yum. The interior of the restaurant is funky and comfortably shabby - my kind of place.
The following week, having a couple of hours to kill between a beautiful memorial recital in honour of the great accompanist Martin Issep, and a stunning concert by the Elmer Eiseler singers at St. Mary Magdalene's, I - er - returned. In the meantime, the weather had warmed up and we sat outside. I can still taste those livers... the warm, buttery, garlicky scent wafting up around me as I spread a perfectly tender liver over a garlic toast. Double yum.
The blackened chicken livers were recommended to me then, and I had them again. SO GOOD. Served with garlic toasts and swimming in butter. Yum. The interior of the restaurant is funky and comfortably shabby - my kind of place.
The following week, having a couple of hours to kill between a beautiful memorial recital in honour of the great accompanist Martin Issep, and a stunning concert by the Elmer Eiseler singers at St. Mary Magdalene's, I - er - returned. In the meantime, the weather had warmed up and we sat outside. I can still taste those livers... the warm, buttery, garlicky scent wafting up around me as I spread a perfectly tender liver over a garlic toast. Double yum.
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