Comments for Nick's Café Canadien

Comment on Fly Mii to the Moon by anarchaeologist

anarchaeologist — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:31:45 +0000

Wow, this is a great find! I love the Mii tune and for some reason always thought it was composed by Sean O’Hagan (he of the High Llamas)…

Comment on Wednesday Book Club: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Once Upon A Bookshelf » Blog Archive » Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Once Upon A Bookshelf » Blog Archive » Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:58:43 +0000

[...] Reading, Nick’s Cafe Canadien, 2606 Books and Counting, Adventures in Reading. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me [...]

Comment on Austin McBride’s piano comedy hour by How to play 5/4 – sort of | My piano adventures

How to play 5/4 – sort of | My piano adventures — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:00:25 +0000

[...] case you are still wondering read these blog posts: Austin McBride’s piano comedy hour austin mcbride: [...]

Comment on Raging bishop by Ben

Ben — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:09:31 +0000

But isn’t there a fundamental difference between running laps and sustaining repeated blows to the head? Something about the idea of spectating an intellectual challenge made purposely more difficult by head trauma feels a bit like feeding beer to your dog and then laughing when it bumps into the walls.

But I suppose all that’s really happening is that the chess highlights the fundamental savagery of boxing itself.

Comment on Raging bishop by Nicholas

Nicholas — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:42:04 +0000

I think your problems with chessboxing are a subset of the problems with boxing generally. The sport has a certain aura of nobility about it thanks to its reputation as a hotbed of storytelling, but ultimately there’s no hiding that it’s a celebration of gladiatorial savagery for the visceral pleasure of the spectators outside the ring. Whatever wrongness the chess throws on top is marginal in proportion, I find. As a test of how mental stamina holds up under physical fatigue, I’m not sure it’s morally distinct from having people play chess after running a few laps (which is what chessboxing clubs do for training).

But you’re right: if the intellectual element is really just there to take something base and primal and dress it up with a pretence of class… how different is it from, I don’t know, librarian porn?

Comment on Raging bishop by Ben

Ben — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:45:40 +0000

I admittedly follow neither chess nor boxing, but my instinctual reaction to learning of this sport’s existence is to be a little disgusted. Isn’t there something a little sick or exploitative about watching two competitors trade blows to the head and then attempt to engage in an intellectual challenge? Something just seems…. wrong there. Maybe I’m just not understanding the concept well.

Comment on Lipsett’s diarist by Nicholas

Nicholas — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:16:01 +0000

Thanks for the insight and for coming by. It’s always good to hear the real story from the people who were actually there.

I didn’t mean to imply there was opposition between them personally, which I wouldn’t know about and which I’m glad you clarified, although I definitely get the impression that’s how their artistic reputations are perceived by the current generation of artists who are inspired by different aspects of their work. People do like to argue about their influences, after all.

Comment on Lipsett’s diarist by ml johnstone

ml johnstone — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:57:56 +0000

I worked at the NFB and often encountered Arthur at night while I was editing in a room across from his, where by the way, he kept his movieola chained
I also knew Ryan well and spent many weekend evenings at his flat on St Urbain, where he cared for several cats and many plants
I do not recall this opposition you speak of.
We recognized equally their talent.
Arthur was experimental and Ryan was an animator, as well as a painter, and as he often quipped: a “cartoonist”
It was my understanding that before Ryan died, he had begun work on a film, and that there is a clip somewhere of what he was working on
Former NFBers who knew Ryan were well aware of his whereabouts, so it wasn’t a “discovery” to find him reduced to a homeless person, bumming for spare change on the Main

Comment on Lipsett’s diarist by John Cowan

John Cowan — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:25:03 +0000

It seems that Lipsett used a clip of McLuhan saying “People who have made no attempt to educate themselves live in a kind of dissolving phantasmagoria of a world” in Very Nice, Very Nice. So not quite what you wanted, but the nearest equivalent.

Comment on Austin McBride’s piano comedy hour by Amazing jazz piano lesson I | Ottawa Citizen Blogs

Amazing jazz piano lesson I | Ottawa Citizen Blogs — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:52:08 +0000

[...] the contrary, the blogger behind Nick’s Cafe Canadien concludes here that McBride’s a “tone-deaf [...]