[H U H ?]
share on: facebook
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
What Am I Doing Here?
No, it's not just the title of a song by Blue Rodeo, nor is it merely a product of boilerplate existential angst. It's a legitimate query, asked over brunch no less, so you know how seriously I'm taking it. What's at stake might seem minor now, but I'd rather have a little sense of the path I'll be taking before I invest several years' worth of time and energy into taking it.
Bloggers must read other blogs to decide what they want to become, in the same way children model on adults until they develop the qualities they prefer and that best suit them, so that's what I've been doing. Some of the blogs I regularly read (Towleroad is a good example) are trying to emulate the best news sites, albeit with a twist (ie: an entirely gay focus). Some are sheer entertainment (Lady Bunny is the best of these). The rest fall somewhere between these two, with greater or lesser success, and most are little more than an online diary (which can be just as revelatory or transcendent as the greatest works of art).
Naturally, providing information and entertainment are two of my earliest stated aims. My zeal to please will often lead me to be outrageous when I should be compassionate, and vice versa. Being a centrist doesn't mean I can't also be a reactionary, and my desire to be everything to everyone may end up making me nothing to no one.
I suppose it's a risk I'm willing to take, since most people don't find out what they really meant to others until they're being eulogised, at which point it doesn't matter. I am, as are most people, complex, subject to moods, and entirely a product of my past. That I can't change the past pisses me off; that I can change the present so that years from now I'm looking back on a more pleasant past is what keeps me going.
Part of this process of inquiry is designed to add efficiency to my ambition; if I disguise it as a tendency to kiss my readers' ass, that is my prerogative. Mostly, though, I am serious when I say that when I decide to do a thing I want to do it better than it's ever been done before. Otherwise, why bother?
After each new milestone like the recent one I go back to the beginning and reread the whole thing, every single word. I enjoy a brief moment in which I feel proud of myself for having done what others have done every two seconds for the past two years - that is, to start a blog. Then, before I start to get an ego about it (or worse, complacent) I set about how I can do it better, reach more people, and use this as a vehicle to achieve my own life's goals.
In some cases, I have already identified my niches. I may discover others, or tire of the ones I've got, but the time for change is now, at the start of the learning curve, rather than later, when the brand is well-established.
That means I've decided to stay in Vancouver. Not only is Vancouver underserved by things such as this, none of the ones I've read even bother to put Vancouver into its correct world context, which I am willing to do. Also, there's no other city in the world where I would be so ignored by so many people so much of the time that I would be able to sublimate myself to the degree necessary to make this undertaking successful.
share on: facebook
Bloggers must read other blogs to decide what they want to become, in the same way children model on adults until they develop the qualities they prefer and that best suit them, so that's what I've been doing. Some of the blogs I regularly read (Towleroad is a good example) are trying to emulate the best news sites, albeit with a twist (ie: an entirely gay focus). Some are sheer entertainment (Lady Bunny is the best of these). The rest fall somewhere between these two, with greater or lesser success, and most are little more than an online diary (which can be just as revelatory or transcendent as the greatest works of art).
Naturally, providing information and entertainment are two of my earliest stated aims. My zeal to please will often lead me to be outrageous when I should be compassionate, and vice versa. Being a centrist doesn't mean I can't also be a reactionary, and my desire to be everything to everyone may end up making me nothing to no one.
I suppose it's a risk I'm willing to take, since most people don't find out what they really meant to others until they're being eulogised, at which point it doesn't matter. I am, as are most people, complex, subject to moods, and entirely a product of my past. That I can't change the past pisses me off; that I can change the present so that years from now I'm looking back on a more pleasant past is what keeps me going.
Part of this process of inquiry is designed to add efficiency to my ambition; if I disguise it as a tendency to kiss my readers' ass, that is my prerogative. Mostly, though, I am serious when I say that when I decide to do a thing I want to do it better than it's ever been done before. Otherwise, why bother?
After each new milestone like the recent one I go back to the beginning and reread the whole thing, every single word. I enjoy a brief moment in which I feel proud of myself for having done what others have done every two seconds for the past two years - that is, to start a blog. Then, before I start to get an ego about it (or worse, complacent) I set about how I can do it better, reach more people, and use this as a vehicle to achieve my own life's goals.
In some cases, I have already identified my niches. I may discover others, or tire of the ones I've got, but the time for change is now, at the start of the learning curve, rather than later, when the brand is well-established.
That means I've decided to stay in Vancouver. Not only is Vancouver underserved by things such as this, none of the ones I've read even bother to put Vancouver into its correct world context, which I am willing to do. Also, there's no other city in the world where I would be so ignored by so many people so much of the time that I would be able to sublimate myself to the degree necessary to make this undertaking successful.
share on: facebook
Congratulations Kenneth J. Harvey
The Newfoundland author recently won $15,000 from the Writers' Trust for his book "Inside".
This award is a marvellous vindication for Mr. Harvey's work. While other Newfoundland authors like Michael Crummey, Lisa Moore, and Michael Winter seem to scoop up most of the critical glory (not to mention hogging the limelight that glory gives off), Kenneth J. Harvey has been quietly and diligently surveying his corner of the CanLit landscape for the past 20 years.
"Inside" is a thrilling book, which I finished reading in about three sittings just after it came out in last fall's publishing cycle. It tells the story of a Donald Marshall-like man, wrongly imprisoned for years, and his struggle to cope with life (both his new one and the old one that got him there).
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
This award is a marvellous vindication for Mr. Harvey's work. While other Newfoundland authors like Michael Crummey, Lisa Moore, and Michael Winter seem to scoop up most of the critical glory (not to mention hogging the limelight that glory gives off), Kenneth J. Harvey has been quietly and diligently surveying his corner of the CanLit landscape for the past 20 years.
"Inside" is a thrilling book, which I finished reading in about three sittings just after it came out in last fall's publishing cycle. It tells the story of a Donald Marshall-like man, wrongly imprisoned for years, and his struggle to cope with life (both his new one and the old one that got him there).
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
Meet Disney's Newest Princess
And her name's Maddy!
And the story's set in New Orleans!
Oh yeah, and she's black!
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
Congratulations Anna Lo!
Recently elected to serve South Belfast in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the first ethnically Chinese person elected to any such office in Europe.
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
Three Candles by Marc Chagall
And three candles as well for the Pop Culture Institute! This is my 300th post. As for how I feel about that, ask me a couple thousand posts from now.
In case you missed it....
200th post (23 FEB 07)
100th post (03 FEB 07)
share on: facebook
Follow-Up: Olympic Flag Stolen
Credit for stealing the Olympic flag from in front of Vancouver's City Hall was claimed today by the Native Warrior Society. They did it, they said, to honour the memory of their elder Harriet Nahanee, who died shortly after being detained in the recent Eagleridge Bluffs fiasco that also saw warrior Eco-granny Betty Krawczyk sentenced to 10 months in prison.Reaction to the theft was typically patronising. I say, let the Premier who is without criminal record cast the first stone.
[Reaction from the fascist media...]
share on: facebook
Jeff Wall Showing At MoMA
[Check it out...]
After my recent visit to the Fred Herzog show at the Vancouver Art Gallery I wandered into the gift shop, mainly because the two guys working there were so hot I wanted to get a closer look.
On the way in, though, I spotted a small book entitled "Unfinished Business: Photographing Vancouver Streets, 1955 to 1985". Since street photography is one of the motifs most recurrent in my work, I figured: "Why not pick it up?" So I did. Funny, when it comes to spending money I rarely need more encouragement than that.
The book was produced for a show at Presentation House in North Vancouver in 2003, a show which in a lot of ways created a debate about the past (and therefore the future) of Vancouver's streetscape, skyline, and other public spaces. It contains the expected amount of artspeak, so the reading was heavygoing in spots, but generally lucid. (All I need to do is see the word semiotics and my eyes lose all focus. See? There they go.)
Jeff Wall was one of the contributors to that show, and the one whose work impressed me the most. I also find his writing on the subject the clearest, though alas not entirely jargon-free. (Again, just a pet peeve of mine.) The book (as well as his work) is nevertheless a valuable addition to the city's emerging self-awareness. Hopefully, as this self-awareness creates a world-class city out of Vancouver, Jeff Wall will be here to ease our emergence with his insights.
(That is, if we can get him back from New York.)
[More about Jeff Wall...]
share on: facebook
After my recent visit to the Fred Herzog show at the Vancouver Art Gallery I wandered into the gift shop, mainly because the two guys working there were so hot I wanted to get a closer look.
On the way in, though, I spotted a small book entitled "Unfinished Business: Photographing Vancouver Streets, 1955 to 1985". Since street photography is one of the motifs most recurrent in my work, I figured: "Why not pick it up?" So I did. Funny, when it comes to spending money I rarely need more encouragement than that.
The book was produced for a show at Presentation House in North Vancouver in 2003, a show which in a lot of ways created a debate about the past (and therefore the future) of Vancouver's streetscape, skyline, and other public spaces. It contains the expected amount of artspeak, so the reading was heavygoing in spots, but generally lucid. (All I need to do is see the word semiotics and my eyes lose all focus. See? There they go.)
Jeff Wall was one of the contributors to that show, and the one whose work impressed me the most. I also find his writing on the subject the clearest, though alas not entirely jargon-free. (Again, just a pet peeve of mine.) The book (as well as his work) is nevertheless a valuable addition to the city's emerging self-awareness. Hopefully, as this self-awareness creates a world-class city out of Vancouver, Jeff Wall will be here to ease our emergence with his insights.
(That is, if we can get him back from New York.)
[More about Jeff Wall...]
share on: facebook
Friday, March 09, 2007
Republican Confesses Hypocrisy
He just doesn't apologise for it. Or admit it, either.
Good old Newt Gingrich, guardian of morality. Dumps wife #1 when she has cancer, then cheats on wife #2 while getting all bent out of shape over the President and Monica Lewinsky.
It's time the Republicans changed their mascot from an elephant to a pig, I think.
share on: facebook
Good old Newt Gingrich, guardian of morality. Dumps wife #1 when she has cancer, then cheats on wife #2 while getting all bent out of shape over the President and Monica Lewinsky.
It's time the Republicans changed their mascot from an elephant to a pig, I think.
share on: facebook
Scenes From A Recent Sunrise
This is a milestone picture; it's the 10,000th picture taken with my Fuji since I bought it last April 12th. Appropriately it's of a sunrise more vibrant than any sunset. Vancouver has a few such sunrises every year, but these are the best pictures I've gotten of the phenomenon yet. I feel as though the sun has yet to rise on my career, but given the timing of this omen I'd say the best is yet to come.
I don't often frame vertically, and I don't know that I like the result here because of that. Though as a study of City Hall its at least interesting.
The city and the sunrise and a tiny piece of Broadway.
The same shot with a more traditional pose for Broadway.
Sunrise reflected in the windows of Vancouver General Hospital.
share on: facebook
Thursday, March 08, 2007
International Women's Day - Queen Rania
(Ah, twice in two days: it's Rania-riffic!)Jordan's Queen Rania wants to know what you're doing to empower women in your community.
Good point. We hear all these words like 'empowerment' being bandied about, but how many of us know what they mean?
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Snug As A What?
The tolerances of my camera's macro settings are very delicate, but I think I managed to capture the rather pale ladybug tucked up inside a miniature daffodil.
Spring is here!
share on: facebook
An Act of God?
A batch of new dollar coins came rolling out of the mint in Phildelphia missing their inscriptions (both 'In God We Trust' and 'E pluribus unum').
[To find out more...]
share on: facebook
King of Jordan Calls for Peace
Addressing a joint session of Congress today, Abdullah II called for greater US leadership in the quest for peace in the Arab world.Alas, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and William Gates (aka The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) aren't in either body. Still, it's a nice thought, and it gives me a chance to publish a photo of the lovely Queen Rania and her moderate, Western-allied husband.
[S O U R C E ]
share on: facebook
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
Duchess of Cornwall: Now Uterus-Free
How odd that, on the same day I finish reading Sue Townsend's passably funny new novel "Queen Camilla", her real-life counterpart should be in the shop for a tune-up.Such is life. And her, just back from United Arab Emirates, kicking up a fuss over a few li'l rubies just days ago.
We here at the Pop Culture Institute wish Her Royal Highness every haste in her recovery, and breathe an extra sigh of relief that yet another barrier to reproduction has been afforded the honeymoon couple.
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
George Michael To Re-Open Wembley
Say what you will about his horndog tendencies and/or pharmacological mishegas, on stage is where George Michael really delivers. It's rare that I see a live performance of someone's that's better than the studio version, but George Michael is it all the way.
So it's a tremendous (though, in my opinion, fitting) honour that he gets to help christen the new 90,000 seat venue on June 9th by playing the first concert there, though it may take him a couple of weeks to get around to servicing all the men's washrooms.
[B B C]
share on: facebook
The War on Macro-Terrorism
Well, it's high time somebody did something about this. It's too bad it's my old nemesis Gareth Kirkby who is, but he's at least somewhat better than no one.
When I lived in Ottawa (I believe it was the late Cretaceous period) I wrote a couple of times for the gay paper there, which at that time was called GO Info. It was sponsored by what was then just plain Gays of Ottawa. In fact, GO INfo was the first paper to publish me, and I still have nightmares about my editor there, one Gabriella Goliger.
We had an awful time in those days (1989ish) getting retailers to carry the paper; it would seem, then, that nothing has changed in my nation's capital. GO INfo was superseded by Capital Xtra and they're still having the same problem.
Of course, even here in super-tolerant Vancouver, Xtra West paper boxes are the most damaged of all. I frequently find them propped open so that the papers inside will be destroyed by rain. Despite my prickly relationship with Xtra West I always repair their boxes when I find them like this.
One of the things I'm going to do once I'm getting paid to produce this site is to stake out the ones most frequently targeted and catch some motherfucker in the act and have him arrested, take his picture getting arrested, and schmear his face and name all over the Internet as a warning. Unless it's some homeless guy.
You know, it's all very easy to see terrorism as a big event - a car bomb, say - and feel there's nothing we can do about it. But terrorism is also a hundred little things, such as this. Preventing people from finding community and accessing information that is pertinent to them (but otherwise unavailable) is what I like to call macro-terrorism, and it needs to stop too. Fortunately, individuals can stop macro-terrorism, so let's, shall we?
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
When I lived in Ottawa (I believe it was the late Cretaceous period) I wrote a couple of times for the gay paper there, which at that time was called GO Info. It was sponsored by what was then just plain Gays of Ottawa. In fact, GO INfo was the first paper to publish me, and I still have nightmares about my editor there, one Gabriella Goliger.
We had an awful time in those days (1989ish) getting retailers to carry the paper; it would seem, then, that nothing has changed in my nation's capital. GO INfo was superseded by Capital Xtra and they're still having the same problem.
Of course, even here in super-tolerant Vancouver, Xtra West paper boxes are the most damaged of all. I frequently find them propped open so that the papers inside will be destroyed by rain. Despite my prickly relationship with Xtra West I always repair their boxes when I find them like this.
One of the things I'm going to do once I'm getting paid to produce this site is to stake out the ones most frequently targeted and catch some motherfucker in the act and have him arrested, take his picture getting arrested, and schmear his face and name all over the Internet as a warning. Unless it's some homeless guy.
You know, it's all very easy to see terrorism as a big event - a car bomb, say - and feel there's nothing we can do about it. But terrorism is also a hundred little things, such as this. Preventing people from finding community and accessing information that is pertinent to them (but otherwise unavailable) is what I like to call macro-terrorism, and it needs to stop too. Fortunately, individuals can stop macro-terrorism, so let's, shall we?
[S O U R C E]
share on: facebook
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
