August 24, 2010
Book Review: Andrew Potter’s The Authenticity Hoax
Sure, it’s easy to be disenchanted with society: its corporate lies, political impotence, and information overload. The hunt for authenticity “has become the spiritual quest of our time,” Andrew Potter, famed co-author of The Rebel Sell, writes in his new book, The Authenticity Hoax. A way to escape all we believe to be fake and wrong is to seek the opposite, something authentic—which somehow... [More >>]
May 28, 2010
Fiction: “Away and Home” by Jonathan Bennett
They gathered, encircling the freshly opened earth where Danny Douglas would soon rest. Who could believe it gone, that smart-alecky grin? Over in the field beyond the yellow-brick church, corn swayed. The sky was a deep gold with wisps of mauve and the mourners’ eyes were downcast. They all wore black. When the formal part ended they could talk. At first, no one much did. “Hey, Al,” whispered... [More >>]
April 19, 2010
The gruesome genius of Michael Ondaatje, destroyer of worlds
Twice over the endless winter of 2007-08, I finished a pleasant-enough telephone conversation with my mother only to have her call me back a couple of minutes later. “I know what I wanted to tell you,” she said both times, “so-and-so died.” The first unfortunate object of forgotten conversation was a dear old great aunt in Vancouver I hadn’t seen in a decade. The second was my childhood family... [More >>]
March 25, 2010
In some corners of the web, pirates serve as curators of high culture
There’s more to online piracy than Beyoncé singles and porn In some corners of the web, piracy is a form of curation. Illustration by Matt Daley. In the summer of 1999, a terrifying rumour began circulating on the then-young internet, gluing millions to their screens: Napster, the illegal music service, was about to be shut down. It seemed like the party with an endless soundtrack was coming... [More >>]
March 15, 2010
E-books may be efficient, but they have no sex appeal
In the documentary Helvetica, incensed graphic designer Michael Bierut hilariously critiques ads from old copies of Life Magazine. He attacks the verbosity and shrill insistence of early 1950s Coke ads prior to the introduction of Helvetica then flips admiringly to a minimalist ad set in the new font. Here again is a reminder of how design and material delivery can influence the content of a message.... [More >>]
March 11, 2010
Review: The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book by Gord Hill
In The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, Vancouver-based writer Gord Hill blends his visual and literary talents to tell the story of aboriginal life since the arrival of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere in 1492. If the book’s title isn’t enough to tell you what perspective Hill, a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw nation, is taking, the names of the book’s three sections certainly will: Invasion,... [More >>]
January 26, 2010
Review: This American Drive by Mike Holmes
A frame from Mike Holmes' new book, "This American Drive." Courtesy Invisible Publishing. When Mike Holmes passed through Toronto on his reading tour last fall, he warned the audience, “I’m a cartoonist, not an author.” Holmes is, in fact, both. His latest work, This American Drive, is not just a novel with pretty pictures. Weaving traditional storytelling and elements of the graphic... [More >>]
January 8, 2010
In the twilight of the independent bookstore, Chapters looms
The local indie bookstore is an endangered species, and the blue meanie, Indigo, is their predator Pages Books' bare shelves in its final days of business. Photo by Rick McGinnis. On a warm night in early September, several hundred people gathered at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel to hold a wake for a bookstore. For 30 years, until its closing at the end of August, Pages Books, located in the heart... [More >>]
October 6, 2009
Book Review: Who’s Your Daddy? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting
Who's Your Daddy? And other writings on queer parenting, edited by Rachel Epstein The legalization of gay marriage in Canada has coincided with an era that might be dubbed the first “queer baby boom.” As such, this generation of queer parents and their children have been forced to adopt the ambivalent role of pioneers in a social space in which the model of the “traditional” nuclear family... [More >>]
September 18, 2009
Canada’s an urban nation. Why is our literature still down on the farm?
CanLit has the literary equivalent of the Y2K bug—it can’t flip over into this century Most Canadians live in cities. Why is our literature so relentlessly rural? Illustration by Graham Roumieu. When he delivers public lectures, editor and writer John Metcalf is fond of illustrating CanLit’s paradoxical obsession with tales of the rural past by describing the query letter he once received... [More >>]
