Mayoral farce in Toronto

Toronto’s 64th mayor, Rob Ford, was inaugurated on 7 December 2010 in an eccentric, even bizarre event without precedent in the Council chambers. The mayor’s chain of office, symbol of his authority, was presented to him not by a personage such as Chief Justice or Lieutenant Governor of the province, but rather by flamboyant tv commentator, CBC’s Don Cherry of Hockey Night in Canada, noted for bigotry and unabashed redneck sentiment.

Attired in ludicrous pink Cherry took the occasion to praise his mayoral protégé and to lash out at people he would marginalize, pinkos, left-wing weirdos, and bike riders.

“Bring on the clowns”, commented Councillor Pam McConnell (Centre Rosedale, ward 28).

When the mayor inaugurates his term by turning the podium over to a mean poseur "dripping sarcasm and hatred in all his soul",✶ what does that presage for the city?
✶ see: Jack Todd, Montreal Gazette, 13 December 2010

Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov
Modest Petrovich Musorgsky
1872 version, with scenes from 1869 original
Metropolitan Opera, New York
cinema broadcast in HD live, 23 October 2010
cond. Valery Gergiev
production Stephen Wadsworth
with René Pape (Boris Godunov)

I am far from being an opera buff, and found the four hours of performance a bit of an ordeal despite the wonderful voice and acting presence of bass René Pape in the title role. I was most impressed, if not moved, by the death scene of the hallucinating Tsar, and the poignant closing lament for Russia of the Holy Fool (yurodivy, sung by tenor Andrey Popov).

If the libretto was more historically accurate the opera would have lost its main premise. It is doubtful that Boris, then regent, murdered the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Dmitri.

Out of Context — for Pina

Out of Context — for Pina
dir. Alain Platel (2010)
les ballets C de la B
Fleck Dance Theatre
Harbourfront, Toronto
16 October 2010

A highly intricate and ultimately brilliant piece, it flows through many transitions, with movements and sounds ranging from spastic and animal to more normal and casual, but with constant surprises. With six men and three women mostly in skivvies, sometimes covered with blankets, there are many levels of relationships, but mostly they are individuals in an uncertain continuum.

A Disappearing Number

A Disappearing Number
conceived and directed by Simon McBurney (2007)
performed by Complicite *
Theatre Royal Plymouth
cinema broadcast 14 October 2010

mathematicians Srinivasa Ramanujan and Godfrey Harold Hardy collaborate in 1914 (theme)

* Théâtre de la Complicité
(original name of the experimental company)


A Disappearing Number is a decidedly clever, imaginatively experimental, but problematical and in many ways puzzling play. I was unable to get emotionally involved in what passed for a plot, with separate but intellectually intersecting individuals. I can inherently appreciate the beauty of elegant mathematical proofs, yet that hardly makes for drama to this remote observer. The play kept harping at the significance of infinity — awesome in imagination, less so on stage. Given the origin of the one genius, a fair dollop of Indian mysticism was interjected by the end of the day. It felt gratuitous.

Pirates

Pirates of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean
Somali pirates at the moment are holding about 18 vessels and their crews hostage for ransom in what has become a lucrative, if dangerous activity in recent years, causing havoc in international shipping channels among the busiest in the world. The presence of 30 warships of NATO, the United States, and many associated countries has only slightly deterred the pirates who mostly are let go even after capture. In April 2009 the Russian destroyer Admiral Panteleev (above, top) captured 29 pirates and destroyed their mother ship. On 9 September 2010 24 U.S. Marines dramatically scaled a hijacked German cargo vessel and arrested the 9 pirates on board. Pirates have seized more than 30 vessels this year so far, however.

NYT archives 3, 9, 10 Sept 2010

The Census politicized and undermined

With minimal consultation and little notice Canada’s national government has recklessly compromised the reliability and integrity of the quinquennial census that, since Confederation and before, has been a principal source of accurate information on the demographic, economic, and social composition of the nation. Ignoring the protests and remonstrations of statisticians, historians, genealogists, professionals of all kinds, and even major provinces, the cabinet in Ottawa has removed some questions from the key long form on dubious grounds of privacy and made remaining answers voluntary. A short form of eight questions has been maintained and still compulsory for the census scheduled for May, 2011.

At a stroke the usefulness of the exercise has been badly undermined, introducing serious doubt about the reliability of voluntary returns, and making comparisons with previous data uncertain. There seems to be total incomprehension in the Conservative cabinet of what this is all about, given the scorn and scoffing of Minister of Industry Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka).

Repairing the damage as best they can will be a priority task for future government. Modern societies require more than fanciful statistics and anecdotal information to function in any sense rationally.

Arma virumque: undercurrents of violence

A dozen protesters carrying arms were observed in Phoenix, AZ where President Obama was addressing the national convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars. One was carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle (illustrated above), and all were legal under Arizona law. Some days earlier weapons were observed near a presidential event in New Hampshire, another open-carry state. The Secret Service stated that armed demonstrators had "little impact on security plans for the president". The White House has been silent.
[AP, 17 August 2009]

Nothing could contrast more sharply the difference in political culture between Canada and the United States. Personally I am aghast.

Frank Rich wrote an insightful piece about the current menace of "provocateurs with guns" in yesterday's New York Times: "The guns of August". Threats against the American president have increased 400% over those against the previous incumbent.

Afghanistan: should Canada be there?

When the Canadian government sent Canadian troops, inadequately prepared and poorly supported, into the cauldron of Afghanistan in 2002, it was no doubt to placate the United States for our non-participation in Iraq, and as a gesture of solidarity with NATO and UN. The cost in lives has been high. The result in the country of all Allied efforts has been problematical.

On 15 August 2009 a suicide bomber was able to pass various of levels of control at the most secure HQ ISAF * zone of Kabul, and detonate over 500 kg of explosive, killing 7 civilians outright, and injuring about 100 others, including some military.

Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of ISAF and US forces, was present nearby at a security briefing at the time of the incident, close to fortified embassies and government buildings, as well as the presidential palace. Taliban claimed credit. [The Observer, 16 August 2009]

* International Security Assistance Force

In an earlier blog, written in September, 2006, I wrote:
Meanwhile as casualties rise, an abundant crop of opium poppies still nourishes the [underground]narco-economy [of Afghanistan], corruption abounds at all levels of state, while Taliban, Al Qaeda ("the Base"), unlimited arms and money pass with impunity through the porous Pakistani frontier.
Not much has changed in the interval of three years.

Canadian casualties in the campaign to date: 127
Coalition casualties: 1315

Foreign military presence in Afghanistan: 88,000 (about 41 countries)
NATO presence: 32.000
incl. Canada 2,500
US presence (Operation Enduring Freedom): 56,000
Afghan National Army: 90,000

Parliament prorogued

Facing certain defeat in the House of Commons on Monday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended Governor General Michaëlle Jean at Rideau Hall on Thursday morning, 4 December 2008 and requested prorogation of Parliament, which she granted until 26 January. His minority government thus obtained a reprieve and some breathing space, but the country was left in a precarious situation at a time of major economic crisis worldwide. The PM's manoeuvre has no precedent in Canadian parliamentary practice.

A potential coalition of opposition parties, with majority votes in the Commons, was left in limbo, furious. The nation can expect a bombardment of vicious propaganda in coming weeks as parties justify their position, and dig in their heels. The coalition may fracture long before it can come into existence. In truth, it has been deeply flawed and illusionary from inception.


Had the Governor General been courageous and refused prorogation, a ragtag combo of Liberals and NDP, with dubious Bloquiste support, would have attempted some response to the fast deteriorating economic condition of the country. Meanwhile, a bad constitutional precedent has been set.

If Her Excellency had either refused prorogation or taken the request under advisement, a furor would have erupted not unlike the fuss and rant in 1926 when Lord Byng of Vimy did not acquiesce to the prime minister of the day. In Canadian fashion she chose discretion rather than assertion. Nevertheless reserve powers of the royal prerogative remain, intact and dormant until some future crisis.

Arts in Canada under attack

The Conservative government’s strong dislike of arts and culture is increasingly evident in proposed legislation that would establish subjective tests for media to receive public subsidies, and most recently in $45 million of cuts to various arts programmes, particularly those that promote Canadian culture abroad.

Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau (Montreal Papineau) and NDP leader Jack Layton have been vocal in making the cuts an issue in the election campaign, as have many cultural organizations across the country.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper can scarcely conceal his contempt for what he calls a “niche issue” promoted by well-heeled intellectual élitists, evidently of little interest to ordinary Canadians.

It is not an issue that is going to go away. As an economic activity culture represents a value as high as $85 billion in Canada. Nothing is more potent a factor in Canadian identity forged over centuries across a vast continent. It includes a myriad of activities, national and regional, ethnic and aboriginal, on-stage, in museums, schools and universities, in print, on-air and on-line. Some is commercially viable, but most requires a boost in this country more than most, given the small diverse population spread unevenly across a huge land. Philanthropy can help, but assured public subsidies remain essential for the continued healthy existence of the arts in Canada.

graphic: The Red Maple (1914), by A.Y. Jackson (of the Group of Seven)

After Beijing

I watched the final closing spectacle of the Games, astonished and somewhat perplexed. No doubt the totalitarian host country surpassed itself in the quality of the event. I am distressed by unspoken political overtones. However, the athletes experienced wonderful conditions over the seventeen days of the XXIX Olympiad, and they deserve the best.

Canada’s 18 medals equal the number obtained in Barcelona 1992, less than the 22 in Atlanta 1996. The haul was 3 gold, 9 silver, and 6 bronze. The country’s support of its élite athletes is trivial, even pitiful compared to programmes in Commonwealth countries like Australia and Great Britain.

I watched quite a bit of the Olympics over the past two weeks, as much in awe of the disappointments and failures as of the successes.

In fairness, Canada's excellent standing in winter sports should be remembered. At the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006 Canada ranked fifth with 24 medals (7 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze). Vancouver is the venue for the XXI Games in 2010.

Fateless: Holocaust in Hungary

Sorstalanság (Hungary/Germany/UK, 2005)
Eng.: Fateless
Fr.: Être sans destin
dir. Lajos Koltai
rating: ✶✶✶✶✶

The Hungarian title can also be translated Fatelessness, a mind-numbing concept in the novel and script by Nobel laureate Imre Kertész. The film remarkably combines holocaust and coming-of-age themes in the personal experience of a boy wonderfully played by Marcell Nagy. The story is as harrowing as the resolution is troubling. The cinematography is powerful and memorable throughout.

Jacob Hertzman (1981-1996)

One has to be moved by the tribute of family and friends to a young boy who died just short of his fifteenth birthday after a life complicated by multiple congenital abnormalities. He was my 1st cousin 2nd removed, lived in the same city, but I never met him and hardly knew anything about him until I recently saw The Jacob Stories, a little book compiled by his mother Jill, with Elayne Freeman, and wonderfully illustrated by grandmother Florence (Toronto, 2004).

Jill wrote of her son: “Jacob was a puzzle whose pieces did not quite fit. He was an unusual combination of fierce determination and fragility. When he felt well he boldly went about the business of living.” (p.xiv)

The graphic (below) was done by Kaylee Mimron, a friend of Jacob’s at Kohai Education Centre in Toronto, a special needs school where he blossomed.

Toronto, 22 January 2008

link to technorati

Technorati Profile

On the run with Jason

The Bourne Ultimatum (USA, 2007)
dir. Paul Greenglass
rating: ✶✶✶

The third thriller about Jason Bourne, trained by the CIA as an “asset” (i.e. spy, covert agent, and assassin, who then cut himself loose from the company) is replete with action that kept stuntmen busier, no doubt, than star Matt Damon. He is good to excellent in the part of uncanny survivor on a dangerous quest. Chases and fights are high-powered, frequent, and incredible. Rogue CIA men are the bad guys rather than foreigners this time. But basic premisses of the plot are less intricate than in the antecedent films, so for me less interesting.

Not a lot happens on Canada Day, in contrast to the grandiose events in Paris on 14 July, and patriotic ceremonial in many other countries on their national day. In Ottawa and provincial capitals the military fire a 21 gun salute. The Mounties get to show off their horses on Parliament Hill and there is an air force fly-past. Governor General and Prime Minister plus some premiers publish inspirational, quite predictable messages. There is a banal fête populaire at an improvised stage on the Hill, broadcast nationally. Across the country for a few moments the night sky is lit with fireworks. The national press is loaded with reflective articles on who we are, mostly not worth quoting. Outside the country there is scarcely a mention. This year marks 140 years since Confederation.We get a long weekend.

Quadriga (2007) by Max Streicher

This afternoon I discovered four luminous gigantic horses floating in the Great Hall of Union Station, Toronto, another component of Luminato festival of the arts. This was an astonishing kinetic inflatable sculpture by Canadian Max Streicher who has been constructing pieces at venues around the world. I have so far not been able to find anything about him, except year of birth, 1958, and the fact that he is based in Toronto. The subject for me is highly mythic and powerful.

A quadriga is actually the four-horse chariot used for races in the Olympic games and sacred rites in ancient Greece, the vehicle used by gods and heroes in classical art. The four horses here, though not attached, nevertheless are in mystical union.

La Sylphide: National Ballet School, Toronto

For the first time Spring Showcase consisted of a single classical work, La Sylphide in the 1836 version choreographed by August Bournonville — a challenge that senior students of the National Ballet School met with skill and enthusiasm. It was staged by Sorella Englund, formerly of the Royal Danish Ballet, who also took the cameo role of fortune teller sorceress, Madge. It was carried off at near professional level by the young cast with minimal accoutrements.

Englund's Madge, of course, seething with scheming resentment, was nonpareil and true in the role, as authentic as one could want. But the principal parts taken by students were equally accomplished and stylish. The corps de ballet in this classic white ballet, the essence of romanticism at mid-19th century, was expressively disciplined and beautiful with never a ragged or awkward line.

With five performances, the school had a new cast of student principals for each — I saw one. As the eponymus Sylph that night, faerie of air, Heather MacIsaac sweetly generated the mystery and mischief that moved the plot. But the evening’s star was Alexander Bozinoff as betrothed and enchanted farmer’s boy, James. His beautiful leaps and pirouettes in kilt, all lightness and elevation were pure examples of Bournonville style at its finest.

Opera Atelier, Orpheus and Eurydice

The current production by Opera Atelier of C.W. Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, the 1774 Paris version in French of the opera, was first performed in Vienna in 1762 in Italian. The poetic retelling of a myth from Greek mythology, the genre is azione teatrale, but here straightforward and much simplified as the composer attempted to lighten the traditional, highly involved opera seria of the time. Opera Atelier, skilled in reconstruction of baroque performance, have produced a consistently clear and entertaining work, true to the original, but somewhat free in interpretation. It made for a splendid evening.

As Orpheus tenor Colin Ainsworth looked and sounded the part of heartbroken, audacious swain and prodigy dangerously venturing into the underworld to rescue his spouse. She, Eurydice, was sung by soprano Peggy Kriha Dye with suitable pathos, though her full white gown seemed somewhat anomalous in the situation. With surtitles I was able to follow the text in French, overwrought rhetoric rather tedious in the 21th century. It was rescued by the splendid interventions of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. Gluck’s score was throughout played with distinction by Tafelmusik, conducted by Andrew Parrott.

The production was generous with dance beautifully and inventively choreographed by Jeannette Zingg, who moved in style from late baroque to early romantic, quite in the transitional spirit of Gluck’s piece itself. The artists of Atelier Ballet themselves moved stylishly and cleverly through dance sequences that advanced the story. The Dance of the Blessed Spirits with three variations was a particular delight.

Elgin Theatre, Toronto, 28 - 5 May 2007

Arma virumque: Commonwealth of Virginia

In Virginia anyone older than 12 may own a rifle or shotgun. From age 18 onward it is legal to own a handgun. No permit is required, but without one the individual may purchase only one weapon a month. To carry a concealed gun a permit is required, but there is no requirement of training. Before the weapon is sold the name of the purchaser is checked against state and federal databases — convicted felons are ineligible as are mentally disturbed persons who have been treated in hospitals. There is no waiting period.

At a gun show even that check is waived. To buy a semi-automatic pistol or even a military-style assault weapon no name is required, hence no background check, and no record of sale.

Virginia's laws may seem lax, but the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence considers 32 other states even less rigorous. In 2001 about a third of U.S. households reported the possession of arms.

The student assailant at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University used two legally acquired weapons to kill 32 students and faculty on 16 April 2007: a Glock 9 mm pistol (above), and a Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol. He had been referred to an out-patient clinic to treat mental instability, so not reported to the database.

[sympatico / msn news, 18 April 2007, "Virginia massacre raises gun control questions"]

An executive order by the Governor of Virginia now makes mandatory reporting of mentally troubled patients treated in out-patient clinics, thus making them ineligible to purchase arms at stores. That is mere tinkering — 28 states do not even participate in the voluntary federal database. The New York Times refers to the "silent retreat" of legislators: "One hearing after Virginia Tech carefully focused on the need for mental health counselors on campus — certainly not saner gun controls."
[NYT, 2 May 2007]



I received the following comment from a friend who is a psychiatrist and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Canada):
The term "mentally unstable" is a vague, catch-all phrase. I often wonder what it really means and I imagine you do too. Does it fluctuate with time? Is anyone who sees a psychiatrist considered mentally unstable? Is someone with substance abuse considered mentally unstable? Does someone who has undergone a relationship breakup and harbours angry feelings qualify as unstable?
Another interesting point needs to be made. Psychiatrists feel from a careful review of evidence that they do know what risk factors exist for suicide and have some expertise (not complete) in predicting suicide risk. [On the other hand, by contrast] the American Psychiatric Association says time and time again that we do not have sufficient expertise to identify risk factors or ability to predict aggression, violence and homicide (even though this may sound counter-intuitive).