Seen in February

Retirement Plan

This is a pretty paltry watchlist. I don't know why? Was I reading more books? Nope. Exercising more? Volunteering at soup kitchens or retirement homes? Nope. I have no idea what I was doing other than watching the so-called "idiot box," but here's what I did see.

Forevergreen
YouTube
A sweet Oscar-nominated animated short film about an orphaned bear cub raised by a tree in a forest threatened by human encroachment and wildfires.

The kind of film that makes you ask, "What would I have done?"

Papillon (Butterfly)
YouTube
Painterly animated short film, also Oscar-nominated, about French-Jewish swimmer Alfred Nakache. In Nazi-occupied Vichy France, Nakache, who was a celebrated competitive swimmer, was stripped of his citizenship and ability to compete. Hand-painted cells are combined with an innovative technique of oil on glass to provide a watery special effect, appropriate for this poetic meditation on Alfred Nakache's life from famed athlete to persecuted Jew who lost both his daughter and wife in the Nazi death camps.

Ricky Gervais: Armageddon
Netflix
Not really "shock comedy" unless you consider the shock of how unfunny it is. Gervais’ celebrity from his unquestionably great TV work has given him too many opportunities for mediocre standup specials.

Tom Papa: You're doing great
Netflix
You got yourself dressed up and out of the house to see the filming of a comedy show? Don't worry about anything else, you're doing great! That's the message Tom Papa wants you to know in this funny and enjoyable show.

Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon.

The Lowdown
Disney+
Lee Raybon (Ethan Hawke) is a bookshop owner and self-titled "truthstorian". Part investigative journalist, part private eye, and 100% pot-stirrer, Raybon enjoys exposing Tulsa's powerful and wealthy families for the bottom dwellers they are. Raybon's gonzo journalism is the perfect vehicle for a funny and compelling mystery such as this. "It'll either be a good time or a good story." is Raybon's mantra. Hawke has matured from playing lovelorn youths to crusty rapscallions without losing a step. This show is like a funny film noir showcasing Tulsa's underbelly and surprisingly diverse communities.

Retirement Plan
YouTube (New Yorker channel)
Another Oscar-nominated animated short, which happens to be my favourite of this year's contenders, which means it doesn't have a hope in Hades. We hear a narrator list all of the things our protagonist will complete once he has retired, from answering neglected e-mails, working through his list of unread books, to living by the sea. Its minimal, economic style and humour make it a winner in my Academy Awards, but the Academy does not respect my opinion.

One of those days

Boy, what a day!

Someone cancelled my very own meeting as if to say, “Don’t take this the wrong way but I’d rather not talk to you today.” The gumption! The gall! The nerve! Well, here’s the truth. It is an absolutely lovely day and I don’t want to talk to them either! It's one of those miraculous springlike days in March. Everyone knows there will be more winter yet to come, but we don't care because the Earth is giving us a little gift to lift our spirits. It's that kind of day.

It’s a melting ice kind of day. It’s a drip, drip, drip of ice off the eavestrough kind of day. It’s a new bird in the tree kind of day. It’s a "wear a light jacket even if you have to go to your basement or attic to find a light jacket" kind of day. It’s a "wear shades to keep the sun out of your eyes" kind of day. It’s a squirrel grooming himself on the fence kind of day. It’s the kind of day when kids can’t help but shriek with laughter kind of day. It’s a shoe day. Not a boot day. Not a heavy coat day. It’s a cap day not a tuque day. It’s a bare hands in the sun day, not a glove day. All of this on a Tuesday?!

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I commuted my commute.

It's been a long time since cycling was more civilized.

The only thing I understand about Game Theory is what I learned in the film A Beautiful Mind. There is an example of winning some kind of duel by firing your pistol in the air, thus removing yourself from the competition, while still following the rules. There is no "winning" Toronto's horrible commute. Toronto's horrible commute is made worse by unreliable and poorly connected regional and municipal transit, too many people deciding to drive who don't really need to drive, and a conflation of hundreds of condo construction projects and countless infrastructure construction sites. Did you want a functional electrical grid, water and sewage, and the aforementioned transit? Then there will be construction. I'm not too bothered by any of it.

I 'game-theoried' my commute. I fired my shot into the air. I took my bike. For about 20 years of working in the city, I wove my way around potholes, streetcars, cabs, and antagonistic drivers. Since the 2020 lockdown, I've worked mostly from home.

There are many benefits to cycling to work. It is probably the most reliable and consistent way to get somewhere. There are few mechanical mishaps, "organizational slowdowns," or "medical emergencies at track level" that dog the TTC, the Toronto Transit Commission. You will lose weight. You will be fitter, stronger, and more productive. Yet don't believe those who wax lyrically about their tranquil commute through a park by bike. Urban cycling to work is not the same as tripping the light fantastic along a lake (though I can do that too).

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What a drag.

Ugh…

My mother, like Mick Jagger, warned us what a drag it is getting old. While I’ve always appreciated that sentiment, when my mom advised, “Don’t get old”, I had to admit I didn’t really like the alternative. It’s not like I can get any younger, and the only way to discontinue aging would be to discontinue living.

Mick Jagger, that puckishly eternal sprite, has always been whip-thin and fit, no doubt from his regular diet and routine of incredible amounts of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. At 82, Jagger still seems pretty lively or, at the very least, alive. I doubt I could keep up with him. The last concert I went to left me aching in my feet and hips for days, presumably from standing for up to 90 minutes… in a row. It was exhausting. Which brings me to today. I still haven’t recovered from our move months ago. Both of my elbows seemed wrenched out of their sockets, one of my knees is playing fast and loose with gravity, and my back can’t decide if I should never straighten again or never bend again; staying at approximately a 15° angle is about as much as I can muster. The problem is I keep waiting to feel a bit better before I start exercising again, but this is a gamble because I’m starting to think that maybe this is it. Perhaps today is as good as I will ever feel, and by tomorrow I will feel just a little bit worse.

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Seen in January

Stranger Things cast take their bow, and their chainsaw,  stick with nails and dynamite etc.

It is in the deepest and darkest days of winter when we seek comfort. I know as a Canadian I should embrace winter’s wild winds, the caress of its cold, and the silence of its snow cover, but another way to appreciate winter's breath is to have gratitude for the hearth. This has been one of the coldest and snowiest Januarys in Toronto in almost 90 years. I'm fine hibernating. I feel no shame in it. I have felt the hot glow of the television, and this is what glowed from our screen.

Stranger Things S05
Netflix
Was the wait worth it? Well, I guess that depends on whether or not you cared for this show and its characters. I, for one, did enjoy the show and was surprised by how quickly I wanted to get back to the town of Hawkins. Other series that either delayed or divided the last season in two, such as Mad Men and Game of Thrones, lost a step or simply a lot of momentum. That wasn't true with Stranger Things. Despite the characters having aged significantly or having been forgotten about, the series picked up from its slumber and brought us back to the storyline with urgency. Also, the series ended with a definite win for the good guys and didn't somehow drag a character back from the dead like an unstoppable zombie, so there was a good deal of satisfaction. Even the slightly schmaltzy epilogue, which felt a little tacked on, didn't seem to create any schism of what we saw with what may have happened. It gave hope or perhaps a positive way to think of grief as a reminder of having lost a loved one, but at least you had a loved one to lose.

Agnes and William

Hamnet
Speaking of grief and loss, Hamnet is the story of how a man named William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) grieved for their son, lost as a young boy to illness. The premise is that Shakespeare pours his sadness into his masterpiece, Hamlet (the names "Hamnet" and "Hamlet" were considered interchangeable at the time). It's important to remember that this is a complete fiction, based on the novel of the same name, threaded together by what is known about Shakespeare and his life. Shakespeare and his wife had three children: a daughter and twins, a boy and a girl. There are some nice and (not so) subtle hints of the origins of Shakespeare's writing with twin siblings switching places, or of Agnes' "witchy" knowledge of natural remedies. While I felt all the feels of two people dealing with the loss of a child and the climax of Agnes realizing how Will has channelled his pain into his writing, it's not without its flaws. For me, Mescal doesn't really seem like the kind of guy who could write such poetry, and Agnes seems strangely supportive of her husband without really knowing much about poetry or theatre.

The Diplomat S1-3
Netflix
The fun part of this show is the fascinating geopolitical machinations of US Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) and her husband, former American Ambassador, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell). The first two seasons are a series of worsening interconnected crises that are really the same crisis. The third season stalls with awkward and less interesting interpersonal dilemmas. We came for geopolitical drama, not "drama drama". Hopefully, season four can get back on track.

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Tomorrow Begins at Midnight

1955. A family tests an underground fallout shelter. I guess we've lived through other crisises.

“Trump says killers of protesters will ‘pay a big price’ and urges Iranians to ‘take over your institutions’”
The Guardian

Apparently, the killers of Iranian protesters in Iran will have to “pay a big price”, but killers of American protesters by American authorities get a free pass? I get it. The US has reached Idiocracy.

Reading the news from the US, from the shooting death of Renee Good by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross, to family separations, to people being grabbed at their refugee hearings, to assaults on people and democracy, the FBI raiding a reporter's home, media companies firing detractors of the administration, declarations that the US must "own" Greenland, references to Canada as the 51st state, a narcissist adding his name to memorials to other presidents, cutting funding to not-for-profits, destroying foreign aid that endangers lives, using the Department of Justice as a cudgel of private vengeance, forcing law firms to bend the knee or be banned — all of it — just makes me absolutely livid. I'm only referring to political news from the US, but there are so many other upsetting news stories it becomes overwhelming (the environment, foreign wars, the economy). I had forgotten there's even a name for it: polycrisis. Polycrisis was coined to put a name to what seems like an onslaught of terrible things. What is difficult to see is how interconnected so many of these things are.

From the Guardian:
"Our globalized world is built on interconnecting systems, and when one gets rattled, the others do too – a heating climate, for instance, increases the risk of pandemics, pandemics undermine economies, shaky economies fuel political upheaval."

Which is what makes it so overwhelming. I can feel my blood pressure rising and heart pounding. It’s infuriating. So I’ve just avoided it. I basically went from turning the other cheek to turning my face away in disgust.

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