Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
The so-called Luminous Veil is, for me, a symbol-laden structure. The Luminous Veil is a late addition to the half kilometre length of Toronto’s Prince Edward Viaduct. It was designed to end the viaduct’s reputation as one of North America’s premiere suicide destinations.
A poem inspired by my neighbour’s sexual prowess and the feelings of inadequacy it engenders.
After writing a piece about Barthes’ principles of studium and punctum and how I read them in light of Milan Kundera’s meditation on kitsch, I went for a bit of a photowalk through Toronto’s St. James Cemetery. I like walking through cemeteries.
In his Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes introduces the notions of studium and punctum to help us think about photographs. While far from the last word on photography in this post-structuralist postmodern world of ours, and (as Geoff Dyer cautions in his forward) while far from the last word even in Barthes’ own thinking, nevertheless the…
Well, today’s the day! Scotland votes on the independence question. The fact that my final post in this Scotland series is on graveyards should not be taken as a subtle commentary on the Scottish referendum. I merely thought it fitting that the last in the series should relate to death.
This is an obscure visual joke. It’s a photo of the monument to Charles Tennant that stands in the necropolis behind Glasgow Cathedral.
In the British Museum, there is a coffin that I’d like to be buried in (when I die). It’s in the Wellcome Trust Gallery (Room 24), a themed gallery on Living And Dying. The coffin is in the shape of a camera, an imaginary Canon EOS 300.
As of today, I’ve completed 48,000 of the 50,000 words required to “win” NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month. It looks like my novel will be more in the 75,000 word range. I feel like one of those marathon runners who doesn’t realize he’s crossed the finish line and keeps on going because his legs have gotten used to the idea of running.
After day 1 of the National Novel Writing Month contest, I’ve completed 4,488 words of the 50,000 word target. However, I’ve come up against an important issue: research. I don’t know what I’m talking about.
I shot this photo beside the entrance to the George Ignatieff Theatre on the U. of T. campus. Mounted on the wall is a sculpture made of iron rods, creating a mesh that’s ideal for bird nests.
Ostensibly, this poem is a response to the news that marine biologist, Nicholas Hughes, son of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, committed suicide on March 16th, 2009.
While I was walking along the tow path of the Forth and Clyde canal that cuts across Scotland from west to east, I noted a church just off the path – the Cadder Parish Church. A church has stood there since at least 1150. With camera in hand I wandered through the cemetery and among…