nouspique.com

Charlie Sheen Poetry Reading

When you break a silent vow, does it count?  I silently vowed I would never mention Charlie Sheen on my blog.  It just seems too crass, too exploitative, too easy.  But then I discovered that Sheen had self-published a book of poetry in the 90′s and all my integrity went out the window.  The good [...]

Academic Freedom and Charges of Anti-Semitism

I’m thinking of introducing a WTF tag for some of my blog posts — this one for instance.  WTF?  This is old news but it still leaves me scratching my head and asking:  WTF?  It started with Richard Klagsbrun who drew attention at the National Post and on his own blog to an OISE student [...]

Seeing Red: Mainstream media invents the serialized novel

I don’t know whether to be worried or encouraged when a mainstream news outlet highlights a digital strategy I’m already using.  Does it mean I’m innovative?  Or on the fast track to the digital dustbin?  In this instance, I don’t think the digital strategy of serializing a novel is all that innovative given that serialized [...]

Signs and Wonders

Stupid Joke for Egyptologists

A mummy pulls into a gas station and says:  “Fill it up.” The attendant steps around to the driver’s side, unscrews the cap, and starts pumping gas.  When he’s done, he says to the mummy:  “That’ll be fifty bucks.” The mummy is annoyed and says:  “I said to fill it up.  You’ve only done half [...]

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Literary Critic

The Associated Press reports that earlier today, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2010 Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo in absentia.  The last time this award was bestowed in absentia was 1936 when Hitler prevented Carl von Ossietzky from traveling to Oslo.  No doubt China is smarting at the nasty association with Nazi Germany. The Chinese [...]

The Future of Books (according to Philip K. Dick)

Sitting at the breakfast table this morning, coffee in one hand, e-reader in the other, I discovered a passage about books in Philip K. Dick’s Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep, his 1968 sci-fi novel which served as the inspiration for Ridley Scott’s film, Blade Runner.  In Dick’s future (1992), the Earth has pretty much [...]

Russell Williams and the Reputation of the Canadian Military

The writers of Criminal Minds, as bizarre as some of their plots may be, could not have dreamed up this story.  Our friends from the Monty Python troupe, as fond as they are of cross-dressing officers, would have been vilified if they had tried to script something like this.  Russell Williams, graduate of Upper Canada [...]

No news is – well – no news.

Today we learn from the associated press (via the Toronto Star) that “The FBI and Homeland Security Department say they have no indication that terrorists are targeting the U.S. or its citizens as part of a new threat against Europe.” Come again?  The fact that something is NOT the case is breaking news?  And we [...]

Toronto Elites Sleeping on the Streets

Ever since Government House Leader John Baird’s arrogant comment about “Toronto elites” nearly two weeks ago, I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with examples of elite people I’ve met in this elite town.  As I was engaging in one of my elite activities (geotagging photos I had taken in my elite hometown), I [...]

It’s been a Banner Week for Censorship

For the practice of censorship, this has been a banner week (so to speak), confirming yet again that after hundreds of years of book burning, muzzling, and downright ham-fistedness, banning remains the preferred method for institutional authorities to regulate behaviour they oppose.  Although experiences from Victorianism to prohibitionism, from Oscar Wilde to Stonewall, from Lady [...]

Canadiana Vinyl Asbestos Planks

While searching through memorabilia, I found a magazine the hospital staff gave my mother when I was born (© 1959 by J.S. Hunt Publications Limited).  The first item inside the front cover is a syrupy verse titled “God’s Masterpiece.”  Yup, that’s me. The magazine is full of ads for all the latest products a responsible [...]

Photos from Day of Action for Civil Liberties

Saturday July 10, 2010 – Day of Action for Civil Liberties.  People in cities across Canada gathered to show concern for conduct of politicians and the ISU (i.e. police) during the G20 Summit in Toronto.  In addition to showing solidarity with those still imprisoned, they call for an independent inquiry.  For me, the highlight came [...]

Rally to Demand Inquiry into Actions Concerning G20

I celebrated Canada Day by engaging in the highest form of patriotism which, according to Howard Zinn, is dissent. When it comes to laws passed in secret, which are not published in the Ontario Gazette until after the period they are in force, I dissent. When police misinterpret the application of those laws, then, upon [...]

G20 Summit Protests in Toronto

We (my wife and I) went down to the planned protests at Queen’s Park.  It was moving to witness all the different concerns/causes/stories/sufferings people brought into this public space.  There were trade unions like CAW and CUPE.  There were people protesting political oppression – speaking for Viet Nam, Tibet, Turkey, Gaza, Iraq, etc.  People like [...]