So Jen, I’m trying to decide if this was the worst movie I have ever seen at TIFF. Really, Seth? That seem’s a little harsh. But Jen, the opening 5-10 minutes of it were painful. Seth, you’re right, that was bad. As was that scene in the diner, Seth. Jen, it was like we were …
El Alcalde [The Mayor] (2012, Emiliano Altuna, Diego Enrique Osorno, Carlos Rossini)
This a challenging but confused film that begs the question, ‘what is more important to you, peace and security or freedom, transparency and accountability?’ This is an especially poignant question in Mexico, which experiences its share of violence.
Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus (2013, Madeleine Sackler)
This is an important and emotionally compelling film about theatre under repressive regimes.
The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (2008) by Vincent Bugliosi
I have “read” one book by Vincent Bugliosi before. (I say “read” because it was an audio book.) And in that book Bugliosi impressed me with his rather ruthless rigor of thought about an issue that was clouded by too many books and opinions.
Berlioz: Les Nuits d’Ete; Faure; Ravel (2004, Virgin Classics) by David Daniels, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris conducted by John Nelson, et al
I have always sort of been annoyed by our collective obsession with vocalists. The human voice is indeed a powerful instrument, but it is hardly the only instrument out there. And I always am mystified when I see releases credited to vocalists when that vocalist isn’t even present on every track.
Faure: Complete Piano Works (2006 compilation) performed by Jean-Philippe Collard
Faure’s music seems to my uneducated ears to be the missing link between composers like Chopin and Liszt and composers like Debussy and Satie. That’s really the best way I can size it up: this music often possesses the technical demands of Chopin, Debussy or Liszt, but it also often possesses the sense of momentness, …
The Port Chicago Mutiny (1989) by Robert L. Allen
I was actually completely unaware of the occurrence of the Port Chicago explosion or subsequent “mutiny,” so this book was quite eye-opening.
Wolfe Island Music Festival 2013
This was my third year attending the Wolfe Island Music Festival (WIMF) and though I can’t say that I found it as musically entertaining as previous years I had a good time as always at pretty much the only festival I manage to get my ass too.
Canada’s 2014 Olympic Hockey Roster – Preliminary Edition!
So Hockey Canada has released what we might call “The Long List” for the men’s hockey team for 2014. Let the debates begin.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Gunnarsson and the Leafs financial flexibility
I am happy to see Gunnarsson re-signed for a reasonable amount of money: 3 years @ $3.15 mil. As I have said elsewhere, I think he has been the most consistent Leafs D for a couple of years now. The salary is a substantial raise, but what else could we have expected? Gunnarsson and his agent …
Dukas: La Peri; L’Apprenti sorcier; Chabrier: Suite pastorale; Espana (1990) by Yan Pascal Tortelier, Ulster Orchestra
This is a decent collection of two fairly similar composers but it could be better.
The 2013 Hockey Hall of Fame Class
First off, congratulations to the inductees. I think all the NHL players are deserving. I remain rather confused as to why only 3 NHL players were inducted this year when one could argue there were other deserving players (cough Lindros cough). But just for shits and giggles lets go over the men who were inducted. …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Grabovski Buy-Out
This is what I wrote in March 2012 when the Leafs extended Grabovski, just over a year ago: I like Grabo. 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. Grabo may …
The Campaign to Fire Brian Burke: Evaluating the 2008 NHL Draft
There is a rule of thumb in the hockey world that drafts should not be evaluated until about 5 years have passed. So with that in mind, let’s look at (part of) the 2008 draft to see if we can learn anything about it. (I do this with the distant hope that one day my …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: 2013 Free Agent Frenzy
Consider, if you will, the following four NHL players: Player A 27 years old 238 regular season games 82 game average: 18G, 28A, -14, 19:20 ATOI Player B 29 years old 426 regular season games 82 game average: 19G, 14A, -6, 14:07 ATOI Player C 29 years old 367 regular season games 82 game average: …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Komisarek Buy-Out
When Maple Leafs General Manage Brian Burke traded Francois Beauchemin a few years ago – one of his best trades, perhaps his best – he publicly stated he was fixing a mistake. This statement was really strange to many of us given that Beauchemin, though inconsistent, was still infinitely better than the other defenseman Burke …
This is the End (2013, directed by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen)
I knew nothing about this movie going in, save for that it was starring some famous comedic actors as themselves and that it was about the end of the world. I saw it because the ex-girlfriend wanted to. I had never seen – or really heard of – the short and I think I may …
Works Volume 2 (1977) by Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Years ago, when I was still young enough to maintain that ELP was a truly great band, I gave this a listen or three and rated 6/10. I think I wanted to believe the common idea that this is better than Volume 1 because at least here the bands sometimes sounds like ELP. Well, there’re …
Does Patrick Kane deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy?
So, earlier in this final, I had a post ready to go about the Bruins and the Leafs and how the Bruins’ success meant nothing to the Leafs despite what most Leafs fans on Facebook seem to believe. I had to delete the post this morning and I must say that it was actually a …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Bernier Trade
The Leafs, who made it to the first round of the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade almost solely because of their goaltender, have traded for another goalie. This of course raises a question or two, mainly: Why are the Leafs so desperate to replace Reimer? But before we get to that …
Stillwell and the American Experience in China (1971) by Barbara Tuchman
Tuchman appears to be attempting two disparate things with this book: to tell the story of Joseph Stillwell’s career in the military and to tell the story of US intervention in China from the (first) Chinese revolution to the expulsion of the Kuomintang. She succeeds at the former a lot more than the latter, in …
Proposal for Improved Voter Turnout
The Proposal A number of years ago, a friend of mine proposed an interesting idea for promoting voter turnout in Canada during one of our writer’s group meetings: turn voting into a lottery. The idea is relatively simple: each ballot cast is also a ticket for Canada’s largest lottery. Every voter is only allowed one …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Colton Orr
Maple Leafs Extend Colton Orr, 31, RW for 2 years, $1.85 million The reason for this post is because the Leafs re-signed Colton Orr and all the Leafs fans on Facebook seem to be happy about it.
Double Exposure (2012) by John Pizzarelli
Pizzarelli appears to me to be almost like the Eric Johnson of jazz: a great guitarist who has absolutely no taste in music. Well, he thinks he has taste, but his taste is that of my dead grandma. (Actually, my dead grandma would probably be put off by at least some of this music, but …
Mondial de la biere, 2013
This past week I had the opportunity to attend Mondial de la biere in Montreal for the first time, courtesy of The Malty Tasker. I must say that it is on another planet from Toronto’s Festival of Beer. (Though the latter has improved it’s selection of beers somewhat since I last went.) Mondial is partially …
Secret Chiefs 3 Live at the Drake Hotel, May 24, 2013
So I have been a fan of SC3 since sometime in the early 2000s, but I had never seen them live and – due to my music addiction making music money scarce – I had not kept up with their musical output past 2004’s Book of Horizons, where the satellite band “concept” first came to …
RIP Ray Manzarek
As keyboardist for the Doors, Ray Manzarek brought a level of virtuosity and taste to rock keyboards while (usually) showing a level of restraint most other rock keyboard innovators of the 1960s could not. (I mean the prog keyboardists such as Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, etc.) Manzarek helped bring various non-rock influences to “psychedelia”, such …
Fight Like Soldiers, Die Like Children (2012, Patrick Reed)
First off, I have not seen Shake Hands with the Devil, but I feel as though I should have.
The Book of Mormon
Last night I saw the US National Tour version of The Book of Mormon, the musical by the creators of South Park and Avenue Q.
Toronto Maple Leafs 4 at Boston Bruins 5, May 13, 2013
A lot of people I know are feeling really bad after the Leafs fell apart when they had a 4-1 lead on the Bruins. A lot of other people are trying to spin it positively: at least the Leafs were in the playoffs for the first time in 9 years; at least the Leafs took …