Human beings are sensitive creatures. It’s interesting that this is so because, as a species, we have survived for an unimaginable length of time and more threats to our existence than we could count (none worse than ourselves). So it is always somewhat entertaining – or sad, depending on your point of view – to …
Category: 2012
Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Wrap Up
Here is my roundup for TIFF 2012. I managed to see 13 films this year, which is better than last year. Many of them managed to be documentaries, which Monique attributes to our constant attendance at the Bloor over the summer. (I guess, subconsciously, we have become documentary people.) I didn’t see a film that …
Wolfe Island Music Festival 2012
This is my second year attending the Wolfe Island Music Festival, the 14th edition. Just like last year, I attended even though it is not really full of bands I would normally seek out. I like the vibe – how it is completely different from seeing something in Toronto, for example – and I have …
Dwight Howard Trade August 2012
Putting Howard’s ridiculous, childish behaviour – which perhaps only seems so childish because it has been amplified by our new “social media” technology – which caused this trade, I want to try to think about it from a purely practical perspective. Denver gets: Andre Iguodala (from Philly) Iguodala: 28, SG/SF: 37.7 MPG; 14.6 PP36, 5.6 …
Laborintus II (2012 Ipecac) by Luciano Berio, performed by Ictus Ensemble, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Mike Patton
I should eat this up. This is a work written by my favourite Italian composer of the second half of the 20th century – and with Busoni and Puccini, a contender for my favourite Italian composer of the 20th century – performed, in part, by my favourite male rock singer of all time – and …
On the nature of the universe
In the CS Monitor‘s book of review of Jim Holt’s Does the Universe Exist?, Troy Jollimore discusses the nature of the universe and the bizarre fact that most scientists and philosophers seem to assume that we have to prove how the universe appeared, as if what existed before the universe – if ever we can say something existed before the …
Rick Nash Trade
So I have been on a business trip this past week and didn’t have time to blog about what will probably go down as the biggest NHL trade of the summer of 2012. (You know, unless something wackier goes down.) But just as an aside, the Rangers re-signed Anton Stralman for 2 years at around …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Nikolai Kulemin
Today the Leafs extended RFA Nikolai Kulemin.
Summer 2012 NHL Trades: Some Thoughts
Ducks: 2nd round pick; Islanders: Visnovsky How the Islanders got Visnovsky for a 2nd pick is beyond me. I guess he had his worst offensive year in nearly a decade last year, so that’s why. But given that he automatically becomes their 2nd best defenceman (that’s a guess), and is an underpay, and lets them …
Raptors’ 2012 NBA Draft
This year the Raptors clearly drafted by need and I can’t say I’m happy about it. In my recent review of the Leafs’ 2012 draft I examined the reasons to draft by talent and by need (and why, if you can determine who is the most talented, it makes sense to draft by talent and …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Schenn for JVR
Aka: The Time Riley Was Totally Wrong About a Leafs Trade Toronto Maple Leafs get: James Van Riemsdyk, 23, LW: 47G, 52A for 99P in 196 games, +13 14:03 ATOI. That’s an 82 game average of 20G, 22A for 42P. Cap Hit: $4.25 million through 2018 Salary: $2.5 million per year in ’13 to $5 …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: the 2012 NHL Draft
There are basically two approaches to drafting that GMs can take: drafting by need and drafting by talent. Let’s think about both briefly before looking at what the Leafs did this year.
2012 NBA Champions
Here is my utterly irrational post about a basketball series I watched probably 15 (basketball) minutes of:
The Flaming Lips live at Yonge & Dundas Square, June 16, 2012
A brief word before this review: I am a music fan first and foremost and everything else is secondary. So I don’t put much stock in performance (beyond whether its musically good or not) and so don’t get the wrong idea.
The 2012 LA Kings: Do I Have to Eat My Words? And Other Thoughts
Unlike virtually everyone I knew, I was very much on Philly’s side when they traded away their supposed franchise players last summer. (Though not so much when they signed their supposed franchise goalie.) And through the regular season, it certainly looked like I was right. Of course now the Kings have won the Cup and …
Last Call at the Oasis (2012, Jessica Yu)
This is not a happy film. I guess that’s what accounts for its low rating on Imdb. [At the time this post was published the rating was at least 2 lower than it is in 2019.] That or certain companies are rating it 1/10. (C’mon Riley, nobody does that! That’s crazy!)
The Big Ups at the Horseshoe, June 9, 2012
Or: Nothing like seeing a bad bar band to put you off music and onto psychology. I went to The Big Ups’ show last night. I knew nothing about them. That’s not why I went. But went I did. I have nothing to say about them really, they were fine. Not my type of music. …
The Hunger Games (2012, Gary Ross)
So first, my general impressions: the film is pretty well-made, if a little long for its subject matter. I didn’t detect any glaring problems with the editing, direction, etc. The problem is, of course, the source material. As one would expect from a novel aimed at teens or tweens, there’s not much here for adults: …
The Conservative Majority: One Year Later (2011-12)
CBC had a very helpful little piece about what the Conservatives have and haven’t done in their first year. Here are my thoughts: What they have done so far:
The Invisible War (2012, Kirby Dick)
I hate to say it, but 2012 was my first year attending Hot Docs. And because I didn’t get my act together, I ended up seeing one movie. (The other two we tried to see were sold out, one a week in advance.) So what follows is my review of that movie, Invisible War:
Bar Stool Economics
I can’t pretend to have been following the wrangling between the NDP and the Liberals over the budget and the prospects of an upcoming election. I guess I just have better things to do. (If we accept that systemic reform at the federal level is the political issue in Canada then a squabble over tax …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: The 2011-2012 Maple Leafs Report Card
This is my report card for our 2011-2012 Maple Leafs’ season.
Fuck you, NCAA
I really mean it: fuck you.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Grabovski
I like Grabovski. He is probably my favourite forward on the Leafs at the moment. But liking him has nothing to do with sound hockey decisions and this contract is not a sound hockey decision.
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Aulie for Ashton
Keith Aulie traded to Tampa Bay by Toronto for Carter Ashton With this trade, the last non-Phaneuf piece of the fabled Phaneuf trade leaves Toronto.
L’amour de loin by the Canadian Opera Company
I’m pretty sure I forgot to tell you that we went to a performance of Tosca a few weeks ago. For me it was a real experience to see a Puccini, even one I didn’t know. I know reviewers felt like the leads were a little wooden but having only seen a couple operas in …
The NBA still needs to adopt the CFL crossover rule in order to be fair
A quarter of the way through the season, it is already apparent, as it seems to be every season, that some decent western conference teams will be left out of the playoffs for yet another year. Here are the standings of the top 20 teams by winning percentage: