My name is Riley Haas. I am an author based out of Toronto. I am the author of three published books:
- Existential Liberalism and The Republic of Canada – an “angry young man” book about finding a non-Christian basis for liberal political theory, about applying that to Canada’s liberal democracy and the author getting murdered by a serial killer
- The Beatles Are the Greatest Rock Band of All Time and I Can Prove it – the title says it all
- Rebuilding on the Fly – an appraisal of Brian Burke’s time as the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs
I am currently working on a fourth.
This site contains my writing about music and movies, primarily, with the other odd piece about politics, society, or sports. My attitude towards culture can be summed up as “Art Exists. Aesthetic experience exists. [Entertainment] has nothing to do with it. At best, it is fun. But “fun” is not an aesthetic experience: Fun remains on the surface. I have nothing against the surface. But it belongs where it is and it shouldn’t be taken for anything else.” – Jonas Mekas.
To that end, here are some pages on the cultural experiences I value:
Some quotes:
“I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires” – Scott Fitzgerald
“Dignity is valuable, but our lives our valuable too” – David Bowie
“Ain’t no Jesus gonna come from the sky” – John Lennon
“Though my problems are meaningless, that don’t make them go away” – Neil Young
“Almost every conspiracy theory, if believed, has a victim.” – David Aaronovitch
Favourite cheesy 80s prog rock quote: “Selling skin, selling god, the numbers look the same on their credit cards”