Writings, Reviews, Cultural Criticism
Merry Christmas! Some lights to fill you with cheer! Oops! I don’t know how this first photo got into the mix. Let’s move on to something more sanitized, shall we? Okay, so this is where I interject with my little Christmas sermon. I was not the only person shooting these trees. There was this girl,…
Here are three images I took one night in Yorkville. Must go back for more, especially in the summertime when it’s crowded. Each of the images has a person in it.
The entrance to the ROM – Royal Ontario Museum – is a great place to go people watching. People are drawn to the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, so there’s a lot of tourist gawking going on.
At Parliament & Mill Street, at the northwest corner of the distillery district, there’s a wedge-shaped building, and right at the pointy corner of the wedge is a lighting store, and on display in that lighting store is (or was) a mushroom-shaped lamp.
Canada has a long-standing official policy of multiculturalism and nowhere is that trotted out more often and with more self-congratulatory pats on the back than in Toronto. But a survey of our shop windows tells a different story…
Sometimes, I like simply to go outside and shoot whatever I see. The idea is to be observant in the midst of the ordinary. To be startled by the commonplace.
There’s something aesthetically pleasing about curves. I wonder if it has something to do with sex: it reminds us of the female form. If so, then it’s a very (straight) male-centred aesthetic standard.
I was walking down Parliament Street past Regent Park when I heard a voice: Excuse me. Excuse me. May I ask you a question? There was a man sitting on some steps. He held out his hand and asked for money. I gave him a twonie.
A poem inspired by my neighbour’s sexual prowess and the feelings of inadequacy it engenders.
Toronto had its first decent snowfall of the 14/15 winter season. Although not the first snowfall, it was the first to screw up traffic and require snow removal equipment.
The other day, I was eating lunch and looked out the window into a dreary rain/snow mix. I stepped to the window (as I always do when I’m wondering if I should grab my camera and go outside) when I noticed someone on the roof across the road.
Sometimes I wonder what the mannikins think of us as we walk by their windows. I’ve tried to put myself in their position (to empathize, if you like), but store clerks don’t like when I do that.
‘Tis the season for my Christmas stalking i.e. wandering around malls and shops and photographing people as they do whatever they do to mark this time of year.
Cellphones are so ubiquitous, they’re everywhere. In a previous post, I had suggested that cellphone usage isn’t such a big deal; it merely externalizes a mental habit we’ve always practised. I’m not so sure anymore.
Have you heard of the slow reading movement? Among those who cultivate literary appreciation, there’s a growing push-back against the instant-on digital environment that treats readers as consumers and books as commodities to be gobbled up as quickly as possible so that consumers can move on to the next product.