We’ve Got Rhythm (We English Speakers, That Is)
Just an addenda to the previous post about Handel’s Messiah: Listening to the great performance on Sunday and to the way the continuo led the way, I was stuck by…
Mary Soderstrom
The Messiah by the Violon du Roy, LePage and Nézet-Séguin at the Met: What Happens When You Put Resources into Culture
An absolutely terrific afternoon yesterday when we heard Handel’s Messiah presented by the Violons du Roy. I have never heard a better performance, with particularly marvelous singing by tenor James…
Saturday Photo: Snow and Rock in the Noontime Light
Brilliant sunshine today, and a little snow. It’s not enough for a white Christmas, but maybe it’s a good sign.
The Future of Canada’s Health Care System: Don’t Forget NDP Outremont’s Forum on Saturday.
Don’t forget:Three panelists of note will participate in a forum on the future of our health care system, organized by the Outremont NDP Riding Association. Mathieu Vick, parliamentary assistant to…
Fox News Attacks the Muppets for Being Dirty, Brainwashing Liberals: Will Attacks On Jesus Be Next?
I really thought this was a send-up when I first saw it: Fox News folks complaining that The Muppets are brainwashing children with an anti-corporate, anti-capitalist message. But it appears…
Demon on Harper’s Back Versus NDP Attack
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives haven’t given much shrift to the international conference on climate change in Durban, South Africa. Nice to see that this negative presence has been matched by demonstrations…
Inequality and Its Perverse Effects from The Help to Rising Birth Rates among Educated Women
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is in the news this morning because of the report it has just published Divided We Stand: Wby Inequality Keeps Rising. The report’s…
Saturday Photo: A Cat’s Eye View of the World
It’s chilly today, although there’s no snow on the ground. The sun at the moment is flooding into our house, and lighting up this cat’s window as well. Actually, now…
Message from One Canadian Steve to Another: Violence Is Actually Decreasing
The New York Times on Tuesday had an interesting interview with Montreal-born psychologist Steven Pinker, whose new book The Better Angels of Our Nature argues that violence has become less…
Saturday Photo: The End of Something, the Begiinning of Something Else
A few leaves left floating in a fountain before the winter snow comes. Got the boots and winter coats out, even wore them earlier this week. But the snow disappeared,…
Who’s Profiting from Those Day Care Centres–Families or Entrepreneurs
Jeanne and her parents are looking for good child care these days. She’s 15 months old, and until now they’ve been able to work their schedules so that one of…
A Year after the Fire: Things Are the Same But Different.
As I write this, it is 1:31 p.m., a year exactlyl after the moment when the first call went in on the fire which put us out of our house…
You Are What You Read Department: Time Makes It Easy for Americans
An interesting comparison between the front pages of this week’s Time, for the US, Europe, Asia and South Pacific. The Americans get the cover story “Why Anxiety Is Good for…
Flash Mob Monday: Too Busy for a Real Post
It’s one of the days when I keep running around. Here’s music and dance to go with that frenzy: Ravel’s “Bolero” in Copenhagen, “This Time for Africa” in Rome, and…
Holland in Montreal: A Woofnerf in St. Henri
Elin spent three years at The Hague, living just off a canal on a street that ended with -laan: neither she nor I can remember the complete name but the…
Turkeys and Chickens and Pork Roast: the Best Ever
Since it’s Thanksgiving south of the border, and other holidays are coming up, here’s a recipe that I found a couple of years ago on Global Gourmet and adapted a…
QWF Update
Neither David or Merrily won in their categories. In fiction Dimitri Nazralla won for Niko (Véhicule Press) while Joel Yanofsky won in non-fiction for Bad Animals: A Father’s Accidental Education…
QWF Awards Tonight: Michel Freitag’s Book to Be Launched
Tonight is a big literary night. It’s the Quebec Writers’ Federation annual awards gala, and my good friends David Homel and Merrily Weisbord are up for prizes. Thank goodness they’re…
Getting the User to Pay: Toll Roads Aren’t That Awful, Poll Says
A Canada-wide poll commissioned by the CBC shows that Canadians are not averse to letting the user pay when it comes to roads and bridges. More than three-quarters of those…
Saturday Photo: Denser Development, Less Reliance on Cars
This is a good traffic day in Montreal, where the problems of urban sprawl are considerablly less than in many other North American cities and where public transit ridership is…