Walking by the TIFF Bell Lightbox building on King West on the way to work this morning, a guy in front of us strolls along with a hint of a drunken swagger. Dressed in ripped and soiled jeans, a dirty jacket that’s too big for his slight frame and carrying a green plastic bottle crate, he weaves and snakes…
Read More A morning walk to workFor the record, I am not a good skater. I’m actually pretty crap at it, but I will give it a try every now and then. Today Franco and I went down to the Harbourfront Centre Natrel Rink for a practice session. He’s taking hockey lessons right now and needed to practice so I tagged along for the ride,…
Read More Skating at the HarbourfrontThe first thing I noticed as I opened the door to the outside was an overwhelming fragrance. Flower beds filled with honeysuckle, iris, and aubrietia lined both sides of the path leading to the rooftop garden. Their heady perfume, floating on the warm summer air, mingled with the baser smell of damp soil to create…
Read More Up on the roofI attended a presentation this week by Peabody Award-winning writer and broadcaster, Jowi Taylor, about his project Six String Nation. During the presentation Jowi explained how, in the weeks leading up to the 1995 Quebec Referendum, he was dismayed by the quality of the iconography portrayed by the media as representing the Canadian identity. These symbols were hokey in…
Read More Six String NationI found this song in the voice memo app on my phone yesterday. It’s a traditional French Christmas carol called “Trois anges sont venus ce soir” (Three angels came this evening), sung by El Franco. I have no idea when he recorded it, nor does he. It must’ve been when we’d had “one too many”…
Read More Trois anges sont venus ce soir