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