June 21 07
Toronto the Good is in the news again. The cosmopolitan media and cultural centre of Canada has been cited in the national press for another moral/ethical/principled argument: whether or not its employees representatives of the City can wear and/or drive in vehicles which feature the dreaded Yellow Ribbon decal on its bumper.
The Ribbon, [...]
June 11 07
Bill Casey, the 2007 Budget and the Atlantic Accord. Or maybe Bill Casey, Danny Williams and Rodney McDonald. In some circles, it may as well be Casey, Stephen Harper and McDonald, while others see it as Peter McKay, McDonald and Casey. Promises Made, Promises Kept, indeed.
When Bill Casey went to bat last week in the [...]
June 10 07
Margaret Wente is worried because she has succumbed to Condo Fever. Writing on page A22 in the Saturday, June 12, 2007 edition of The Globe and Mail, she criticizes the massive structures that “march on for miles” in downtown Toronto, but seems to have conceded that she has no choice but move with the rest [...]
June 4 07
W.G. Sebald is known for his unique narrative style, and his untimely death. The German emigré to the UK died in a car accident in December, 2001, not long after the publication of his last novel, Austerlitz. The academic-turned-writer wrote in his original German tongue, but found fame in several languages, largely on the [...]
June 3 07
A propos. [digg=http://digg.com/world_news/In_Defense_of_Daniel_Libeskind_s_ROM_Crystal]
This was supposed to be a digression on W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz, a wondrous narrative which has been consuming my thoughts for over a month now. Sebald’s last novel before his untimely death is haunted by images and representations of the Holocaust’s dead. The disconnect and absence of understanding that fills its [...]
June 1 07
Update: Jan.27.2008: Dalhousie BoG Approves Motion to Sell Fenwick Tower. Click For Details
Most of the western world is familiar in some way or another with Brutalism. It is traditionally considered harsh, crude, unpleasing to the sense and fatalistic to the local community. The foreboding, grey concrete apartment highrises that litter our [...]