Thursday's pizza was full of tofu, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, black olive tapenade, garlic, plus mozzarella, Parmesan, and Piave Mezzano cheeses.
20.6.09
Pizza of the Day!
Thursday's pizza was full of tofu, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, black olive tapenade, garlic, plus mozzarella, Parmesan, and Piave Mezzano cheeses.
10.6.09
Paddling to the Sea or Jogging the Memory
I was listening to Eleanor Wachtel interview Michael Ignatieff on Writers and Company yesterday, when he mentioned a children's book, called Paddle to the Sea (by Holling C. Holling), about a boy who carves a toy Indian in a canoe that makes its way from Lake Nipigon, through the Great Lakes, over Niagara Falls and all the way out the St. Lawrence Seaway. Immediately I had this image in my head of a small wooden canoe going over the Falls. I did a bit of research and found this:
I have no idea when I actually saw this, though I suspect it was in elementary school at some time or other. You can watch the film in its entirety, thanks to the NFB's fantastic website, here.
I have no idea when I actually saw this, though I suspect it was in elementary school at some time or other. You can watch the film in its entirety, thanks to the NFB's fantastic website, here.
4.6.09
3.6.09
On Supporting A Sports Team...
"It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look — I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring — caring deeply and passionately, really caring — which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete — the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball — seems a small price to pay for such a gift."
~Roger Angell
~Roger Angell
26.5.09
Charge!
I have been reading Rowland Bowen's Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development Throughout the World and I recently came across a rather curious rule. Firstly, you must know that in cricket, one of the ways to be given out is to be caught (IE/ You hit the ball, a fielder catches it). So, the rule: If a player was in danger of being out caught he could charge down his opponent trying to catch the ball. A 1744 version of the laws upheld this right, though the bat and arms were not allowed to be used. (In 1624 a player, Jasper Vinall, was accidentally killed by another player, Edward Tye, with his bat, while Vinall was attempting to take a catch) This right was taken away in 1787, however as the game had spread around the world, local variants of the game still allowed it later than that. And so it was that an 1846 series between Canada and the USA was suspended because a Canadian batsman charged down an opponent...he believed it was within his rights to do so. As an aside, Canada first played the USA in an 1844 match which is widely believed to be the first international sporting contest. A further aside...in 1867 Cricket was declared Canada's national sport by John A. MacDonald. I'm not suggesting that the charging down rule be reintroduced, as entertaining as it could potentially be, I just found it interesting. That's all. You can go now.
21.5.09
Pizza of the Day!
Artichokes, green olives, mozzarella, pesto, red pepper, tofu and zucchini are on this here pizza. And in case you failed to notice, I listed the ingredients alphabetically. You failed to notice. Didn't you?
19.5.09
18.5.09
17.5.09
Pizza of the Day!
Actually the pizza of two days ago. Smoked tofu, cherry tomatoes, green olives, green peppers, mozzarella and Parmesan.
UPDATE: I have been informed that there were also artichokes and pesto.
UPDATE: I have been informed that there were also artichokes and pesto.
13.5.09
Pizza of the Day!
This evening's pizza had mozzarella, Parmesan, tomato, red pepper, tofu, zucchini, mushrooms, green olives, garlic and pesto.
30.4.09
Dystopian Literature
I have always liked reading dystopian literature. Perhaps that is because it agrees with my generally pessimistic view of civilisation and where it is headed. Anyhow, having reread Brave New World earlier this year, and having just finished rereading Zamyatin's We, I have decided to complete what has always been for me the triumvirate of dystopian literature and reread 1984. Does anyone have any other suggestions of good dystopian literature of which I may be unaware?
28.4.09
22.4.09
A Trip to the Record Shop ***Record Store Day Edition***
Last Saturday was Record Store Day. To celebrate, I went record shopping. Original, I know. This is what I picked up:
After buying it, the dude at Audiopile told me to help myself to a record from the bargain bin. I chose this:
Sadly, there are some big scratches on it, though some of the songs play through just fine.
After buying it, the dude at Audiopile told me to help myself to a record from the bargain bin. I chose this:
Sadly, there are some big scratches on it, though some of the songs play through just fine.
20.4.09
15.4.09
Man Bites Snake!
This may be the best news item ever. Or at least the best news item today. A Kenyan man was attacked and pulled up a tree by a python. The man bit the snake.
13.4.09
A Trip to the Record Shop!
This was purchased at an actual record shop, not a merchandise table. Notice the spelling of Reggae.
The Ball is Round!
Today, I finally finished reading David Goldblatt's excellent book The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football. At 907 pages, no small feat. Though not my favourite football book, that honour is shared amongst Eduardo Galeano's Soccer in Sun and Shadow and Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, this book is, as I said, excellent. Massive in scope, it is exactly what the title says, a history of the game on a world scale. But more than covering the spread and development of football, it gives the social and historical context in which football was and is played. The strongest chapters are the later ones, I'm guessing because there are more records available. These chapters detail the corruption and commercialization endemic in the world game. However, he ends with this:Living with profound risk and uncertainty is now the destiny of humanity. We are lucky then that the game we have chosen as our collective metaphor, the avatar of our social dilemmas, should so closely parallel our predicament. To place the world under the sign of play is to expose ourselves to the caprice of the ball. We must be bold enough to think that we have the guile, the heart and the wit to bring it under control.
An over-intellectualisation perhaps, something I may have been guilty of once or twice, but apt nonetheless. All in all, an excellent, thoroughly researched work, and a worthwhile read.*
*When the hell did I become a book reviewer?
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