Every doctor should be compelled to read Dr. Andrew Malleson's "Whiplash and Other Useful Illnesses." This is a fascinating book by a true skeptic. I, like the vast majority of others, thought that whiplash and the other "fashionable illnesses" were real and serious. This book opened my eyes.

Tags: whiplash, reading

The Decline of Radio

Do you remember when radio was good? Maybe you are not old enough. I remember when there were lots of independent radio stations. Now, national or multinational companies own something like 80% of North American radio stations. Corus Entertainment owns 24 radio stations in Ontario, 13 in Quebec, and 16 in western Canada! (plus 13 television stations).

This cannot be good for radio. I remember when Q-107 and CFNY (now totally eviscerated and renamed the Edge) used to be very different stations. Today, very little separates them. The so-called Edge spins "new rock" (usually pointless and wrongly categorized as alternative) while Q-107 delves into oldies and occasionally, some rather terrible rock.

Fans of CFNY should visit the Spirit of Radio fan site.

I rarely listen to the radio, but when I do, I usually listen to the last remaining independents, like the University of Toronto's CIUT and Ryerson CKLN.

Tags: radio, Corus

Leaf blowers are stupid.

Tags: leaf blowers, stupid things

The architect is coming. The library is planning a reno. If we can only get more windows, I'll be happy.

In the darkroom last night, I developed two rolls of Kodak HIE. Later, I printed a few images. I am pleasantly surprised with the results. The next step will be to make some large prints. 8x10 seems really small for landscapes. This film gives far better results than Konica's pseudo-infrared film.

Tags: renovations, libraries, photography

Favourites

I've noticed that people with blogs often list their favourite stuff -- movies, books, music -- and other important stuff. Here's a small effort.

Movie: too hard to narrow it down.

Book: Hmm, tough one - maybe "Gargantua and Pantagruel" or "The Brothers Karamazov." There are so many to choose from. I am currently reading "Black Dogs", by Ian McEwan.

Music: my favourite singer/songwriter is Leonard Cohen., with John Cale being a close second. I like Nike Drake, Tom Waits, Richard Thompson, Billy Bragg, Bruce Cockburn, Beck, Adrian Belew, David Bowie, Bob Mould, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Jeff Buckley, and others. I am a fan of Brian Eno, Labradford, Bill Laswell, Set Fire to Flames, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fly Pan Am, Do Make Say Think, Harld Budd, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, as well as XTC, Rheostatics, Velvet Underground, Bauhaus, Radiohead. I am missing people.

Colour: black

TV: Alias, DaVinci's Inquest, Simpsons, Star Trek...

Time of year: spring

Food: Indian

In case of fire, what will I remember to take with you: my old journals, photos

What's under my bed: dust

How many times have I been in love: what's love?

What's on my desktop: Mondrian painting

First car: Pontiac Ventura

I cycle year round. I like toy cameras. I hate Microsoft.

Tags: favourites, reading, music

Politics and Music

I guess I should never discuss politics with co-workers. That is, if I am not sure where they stand on the political spectrum, I should avoid it. Today, I learned that a colleague voted for John Tory. I voted for David Miller. In his email, he said: "Miller is an NDPer....who would in their right mind ever want to vote for the NDP?" I told him I would and did and have in the past. He also wants the Olympics to come to Toronto, and he bought into Tory's right wing law and order campaign. We disagree about music too, so I guess I should have expected this.

Speaking of music, I finally acquired a copy of Tabla Beat Science - Live in San Francisco. I also picked up a Set Fire to Flames CD. It is awesome. I think the Montreal scene is fabulous. Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Fly Pan Am, Exhaust, and others are making some really interesting music. Check out Constellation Records for great music and some really artistic packaging.

I recently dug out a couple of Quarkspace CDs from my collection and had a listen to Spacefolds 6 and Spacefolds 7. It's been a while since I gave them a spin, and I have to say that I still like most of their music. There are bits that don't do it for me, but I really think that they made some cool music.

Tags: elections, Toronto, politics, music

It's Friday. I know that it comes once per week, but it seems to take forever for it to arrive. This weekend, I am heading into High Park with my camera and some high-speed black and white infrared film. I am in the midst of photographing trees. I processed three rolls of Tri-X last night, and I like the results. I think I have some good images. I also spent some time in the studio, experimenting with lighting.

The Pentagon has begun recruiting for local draft boards. This is unbelievable. The US military is stretched thin by the stupidity in Iraq. I am not overwhelmed by Bush's intellect. I am not sure he has any. The US is getting bogged down in Iraq, and there is a notice on the defence department's Defend America website asking Americans to serve on draft boards. Is Iraq becoming another Viet Nam? Hopefully, a new US president will do the right thing and get the hell out of Iraq.

Tags: photography, Iraq

I do not work in a libary, or a lieberry. I am not a libarian, or even a Liberian. Is library such a hard word to pronounce? I sat through a three-hour presentation and the instructor, from a major telecommunications firm, kept saying lieberry, as if it were some sort of fruit.

Does anyone else think that it stinks that John Tory received an endorsement, which he accepted, from the Toronto Police Association? This is in contravention to the Police Act, and probably illegal. He wants to hire 400 policemen at a time when crime rates are dropping. We don't need another tough on crime campaign. It stinks. His ties to Mike Harris are so clear, I am amazed that anyone in Toronto would even consider voting for him.

Tags: librarians, elections, Toronto, police

Last night's Mayoral debate proved once again that John Nunziata is a goof. He should have taken the money. John Tory has the perfect last name. He is such a tory. I don't understand why he is running second in this campaign. We just got rid of the provincial conservative government! Some people in this city can't get enough abuse, it seems. Barbara Hall is boring. I am still going to vote for David Miller.

Tags: elections, Toronto

Dolly for Dinner

The FDA thinks that cloned meat is safe. It's already hard enough to buy real food. We have irradiated food, genetically-modified food, foods soaked with pesticides, and animals pumped up with antibiotics. In the future, it seems that we will have cloned meat in the stores.

I imagine that the specials interest groups will try their best to avoid labeling, just as they have done with GMOs. I think current food labeling legislation sucks. Ingredients of ingredients aren't labeled. Ever wonder what is in such innocuous sounding items like spices, natural flavouring, artificial flavouring, etc.? Even some manufacturers don’t know because they purchase these products form other suppliers. Since they account for less than 5% of the product, there are no disclosure requirements.

One of my favourite sites is Truth in Labeling. It focuses on the MSG, and how it is hidden in many foods. Gluten, a toxic substance to those suffering from Celiac Disease, is also hidden in many products.

Tags: cloning, food

Hallowe'en

When you have a kid, Hallowe'en is different. It reminded me of my childhood. I am also reminded of the parties I went to in high school and University. Those were the days. This year, our two-year-old ventured to a few more houses. She quickly clued-in. "Let's go trick or treating at that house," she said, and "let's knock on that door.". At the beginning, it was fine to visit the houses of people we knew. They learn fast.

My other enduring memory of Hallowe'en was wearing a winter coat over my costume. It snowed many years. This year, we had fabulous weather,. I walked around with her in a short-sleeved shirt.

We got the pumpkin early and, of course, the little one couldn't wait to carve it. The first face was too scary, so we added a second face at the back. As Hallowe'en approached our Janus-faced pumpkin started to decay and rot. In my mind, we had the perfect pumpkin. The insides had turned black, the rear face collapsed and looked like an eighty year old with no teeth. It was the scariest pumpkin on the street. My fingers punctured the sides when I picked it up to carry it to the composter the next day.

Tags: Halloween, parenting

I am half way through JM Coetzee's Youth, a book that follows from the point where Boyhood left off. It is spare and engaging. There is anguish and a palpable feeling of loneliness in this work. Reading Boyhood would seem to be a prerequisite. I recommend all of his books, especially Disgrace.

Tags: reading, JM Coetzee

$5.6 Billion

The Provincial Tories are liars. Thank god they got their asses kicked out of office.

Tags: elections, Ontario

Thank god we are almost rid of Mel Lastman. He is an embarrassment to the city. Please vote for David Miller so that we can stop the expansion of the Island Airport. It's a stupid idea. Who wants jets screaming around the waterfront? Expanding the Island Airport will kill the waterfront. Barbara Hall seems to think that people who live downtown don't use Pearson. That statement puts her in the same league as Mel the buffoon. It's an idiotic statement.

Tags: elections, Toronto

The United Right

At least they choose a better name this time. The Conservative Party of Canada sounds a lot better (if you ignore the Conservative part) than the previous attempt. The best they could do was come up with the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party, or Ccrap. Talk about a perfectly named party.

Does this mean that the regional politics of the old Reform Party is dead? After all, Preston Manning launched the Reform party to advance regional interests. Soon, he realized that the rest of Canada wasn't buying it. Changing the name to the Canadian Alliance Party accomplished little, and attracted few converts from the PC party. So, now the remnants of the once popular Progressive Conservative Party have hooked up with the failed Alliance in the hopes of preventing another Liberal majority.

I don't think they have a chance. For that, I am thankful.

Tags: elections, Conservative Party

I lost part of my tripod. Damn. This is the perfect excuse to buy a new and better one. My Nikon FM decided to start misbehaving. At 1/1000, the shutter fails (I actually typed shitter, but decided to change it). I am left with half frames, or quarter frames. This was a problem that had been fixed. I had to dig out my back-up SLR for fast shutter speeds.

Tags: photography

Goin' to California

I'd like too. Let's take a close look at some of the top ten in votes received. At number 10, we have Mary Carey, an adult film actress. Larry Flynt checked in at number 7. What's going on out there? And then there's Gary Coleman, the pathetic, bankrupt little funny man, who finished 8th. This is even more bizarre than The Terminator being elected, and it is even funnier than any Letterman top ten.

Tags: California, elections

The Life of Pi

I liked The Life of Pi. And, I accept Yann Martel's view that ideas can be borrowed. He clearly acknowledged borrowing this idea from Moacyr Scliar. Martel will win this lawsuit, if it ever gets that far.

I think I agree with some reviewers who argue that the water part could have used an edit. And, I think, in some respects, that the first part was more interesting. However, from a narrative point of view, I think most people have missed the essence of the book: it doesn't matter which story you believe because the author makes it clear that both never happened, even in the fictional world. In the end, the Japanese insurance guys prefer the story of the tiger, because it is a better story. I think that we can assume that the story, as a fiction, never happened, that the fiction is a fiction, that the fictitious author created the fictitious character to tell us two stories. In the end, it makes no difference which story is the right one, because they are both stories.

I know it sounds convoluted, but do you know what I mean?

Tags: reading

A few months back, I removed the 6x45 mask in my Holga so that I could shoot squares. I am happy with the results, although I think that I may need to buy another Holga for when I am in a rectangular mood. Also, I think my lens is a bit too sharp. Some images rival my ancient Nikon in clarity. (by the way, I think these auto-everything cameras are over-rated, unless you happen to be a journalist or a sports or nature photographer).

I just loaded a roll of film into my Akira. This is a ridiculous camera. It even comes with a lens hood. Don't pay more than a few dollars for this one. You can see it for sale on the web from $40 to $69 US. Forget it. It's worth far less than that. I got mine free.

I have lots of other cameras: Lomo, Lubitel 166U, and a bunch of classic Russian Rangefinders.

Tonight, I plan to process a couple of rolls of Tri-X.

Tags: Holga, photography

First, the Tories had this to say about the Liberal Leader: "Dalton McGuinty. He's an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet." Now, with the election all but lost, Ernie says that Dalton has a "sharp pointy head." Thank you Ernie for revealing your true mental age. You are stuck at ten years old. I guess you figured that since you have lost, you should act like a loser. Well done. And, let's not kid ourselves, he knows he is toast. Ernie even referred to the Liberal party as the Liberal Government. And, Mike Harris said he was planning to vote for the Liberal party. He claims he made a mistake, but he's not fooling me.

Tags: elections, Ontario