Books

Writing non-fiction’s a bitch – a truth not universally acknowledged.

Theatre

Comment

What an interestingly inviting read on this mind muddled morning. Thanks! Coffee, Please?

FILM

Feel Good, It Ain’t

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American Psycho vibes haunt Shame.

by Sarah Fletcher
10.01.2012

A naked man wanders his apartment as a woman’s voice pleads with his answering machine. It’s Steve McQueen’s star sex addict, Brandon Sullivan, painfully indifferent and in dire need of a trim. It’s not his fault he’s emotionally unavailable. Maybe it all started with that untoward blow to the head.

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BOOKS

Grand Dames

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Midsummer Night in the Workhouse, by Diana Athill, and The Things We Fear Most, by Gloria Vanderbilt

by Elise Moser
08.01.2012

It is surprising that there are not more well known editors-turned-writers. Toni Morrison is the great one; Diana Athill is another shining example, best known for her lively memoirs, especially Stet: An Editor’s Life. With the exception of a 1967 novella, she appears to have published no fiction except Midsummer Night in the Workhouse, her collection of short stories, written in 1958 and just reissued as a very attractive paperback. Her mastery of the language makes it a very smooth read, but it is far from inspired.

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THEATRE

Amour, amour, quand tu nous tiens…

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Pourquoi pas? Théâtre Jean-Duceppe

by Mélanie Grondin
06.01.2012

Y a-t-il un âge limite pour être amoureux? Y a-t-il un moment où « l’amour de vieilles fesses molles », comme le nomme un des personnages, devient dégueulasse et horripilant? Surtout pour les jeunes qui visualisent le tout en frémissant? Eh bien, selon le dramaturge ontarien Norm Foster, auteur de la pièce Pourquoi pas?, la [...]

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OCCUPY CHRISTMAS

Compassion is the New Currency

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Keeping the faith

by Kathryn Harvey
02.01.2012

For those who missed out on a Christian education, or have forgotten the words, the carol Away in A Manger tells the story of the birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem. Like the Occupiers today, Jesus and his parents were part of the 99%. They were poor citizens of an indifferent Empire. Ordered by government decree to leave their home in Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem, Joseph and a pregnant Mary were made homeless because Rome was preparing a census for taxation purposes. Some things don’t change. The man whose message of peace and love would inspire billions over the centuries, was himself poor and homeless when he entered this world.

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OCCUPY CHRISTMAS

Occupy the Future

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Resistance is futile

by Marianne Ackerman
01.01.2012

There’s a great line in one of George Walker’s plays about growing older. A character – somebody’s crusty mother – remarks that as we age, we either get more like ourselves, or less. “I’m going for the more,” she snaps. Me too. Is there really any other choice?

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OCCUPY CHRISTMAS

Occupy your Heart

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As Christmas as you wanna be

by Shawn Katz
31.12.2011

My relationship with the Christmas season has never been an obvious one. My family are what I like to call good secular Montreal Jews. Being “Jewish” conjured up the holy pantheon of bagels, smoked meat, Leonard Cohen and Mordechai Richler more than the traditional mythology of Moses. Of course, we did have our Hannukah gatherings. As years went by, they morphed ever so suspiciously into Christmukah hybrids, replete with cranberry sauce and a giant turkey wrapped in strips of bacon. Delicious, but I digress.

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OCCUPY CHRISTMAS

Accumulation of the Useless

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Think big, shop local

by Heather Leighton
30.12.2011

Occupy Christmas: International Day of Action has been a welcome initiative for many of us. The holiday season is a hectic, stressful time for working families who end up spending well beyond their means on gifts, meals and entertainment. This spending spree now extends beyond the holiday season and into the New Year, as lining up outside big box stores for big ticket items has become a popular new tradition in the past decade. The real winners in all this are the corporations, credit card companies and banks. Otherwise known as 1%.

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