Wordwork|play

Atheist Ads in Toronto

2009-03-06T19:43:56-05:00

I went to Toronto last weekend with one of my brothers and my partner in search of the much anticipated, much covered and strangely controversial atheist ads. We knew from the official Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign website that, beginning February 23rd, 2009, atheist ads would be running in the subway system. We did not know, however, that they would appear only inside subway cars, not on subway station walls. Nor did we know how few ads there would be. We spent a fair bit of time in the subway system looking into numerous cars and, though we rode only in...

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival

2008-11-02T23:42:48-05:00

My partner and I managed to catch the final show in the lineup at the first annual Toronto Palestine Film Festival last night. We would have loved to see more of the 36 films offered at the festival, but unfortunately we only heard about it on CBC radio on Thursday morning. Being short on both time and money, we decided to see at least one show, and that was Slingshot Hip Hop, directed by Jackie Reem Salloum, featuring Palestinian artists living in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, including DAM, PR, ABEER, Arapeyat, and Mahmoud Shalabi. I am by no...

Diversions for Logophiles and Verbivores

2008-10-05T22:12:56-04:00

If you are a logophile and have some time on your hands, check out the links below: Etymologic! the toughest word game on the web very addictive game, not only because of the learning opportunity, but also because of the words accompanying one's score do not start this, unless very disciplined, if you are in danger of procrastinating on something that should really be occupying your time--it's a great enabler If you've played the game and are hooked, and/or were humiliated by a low score and want to learn more, here's some help: Wordorigins.org--neat and informative site with a big...

Anti-Arab Bias in Dictionary Definitions

2008-06-07T13:33:22-04:00

Though not much has happened on Wordwork|play for a few months, it has not been abandoned. It has merely been left to lie fallow for a while. I have continued to read, watch, think, and yes, cook, but I haven't done much writing. There is still more change afoot at my day job, and I'm moving to Hamilton at the end of June, but the change is now more measured and controlled. I think I'm almost ready to resume more regular writing here. As for watching and thinking, my partner and I watched the 1997 biopic Wilde recently, a fascinating...

Extended Break from Reviewing

2008-03-02T16:29:47-05:00

It's been over a month since my last review. I feel bad about it, sometimes, but then remind myself that it is unpaid and entirely voluntary. It's a hobby, for now. But this type of hobby demands a lot in terms of time, focus, and energy. Lately there has been a lot of change (I know, lead change, change is the only constant, etc.) at work and a fair bit of stress. While I don't usually take work home, the business and stress while at work makes me want to just relax once home. I have little energy left for...

Reading Satire

2008-02-09T20:29:56-05:00

The ONION features a neat satire on reading entitled "Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book." It's quite funny on the surface, but points to a disturbing move away from books, especially among the younger generations. Many young people no longer have the requisite attention span to read books. They seem to need a continuous stream of stimuli, of sound bytes and visual flickers. In our always-on, plugged-in, virtually networked and technologically connected culture, there is no shortage thereof. There's lots of money to be made from a generation trained to be in constant 'need' of fresh stimuli and new, or newly...

Book Review: Something About the Blues: an unlikely collection of poetry, by Al Young

2008-01-28T18:05:20-05:00

(Published Jan. 28, 2008 in BC Magazine) The poetry in Something About the Blues is beautiful, captivating, painful, powerful, sometimes soothing, and often thought-provoking. Highly recommended. There is something about the blues that grabs hold of you and moves you, physically and emotionally, that transports you to places past, present and imagined, something that taps into the deepest elemental parts of you to soothe and sometimes heal. It's easy to lose yourself in the blues. Its history runs deep and its influence on other forms has been enormous. The blues, Al Young writes in the introduction to Something About the...