I stumbled upon a music video on YouTube by a Scottish singer named Amy MacDonald (I have no idea who she is and can't even remember what led me to this video) and discovered one of the most honest and inspiring YouTube comments I've ever read:

"20 Years ago i have met a girl like Amy. She was not very attractive (and not a Star)

but she had sung some Songs and I married her.

Singing is a part of human beeing and is essential to propagate true words."

My encounter with Sara Angelucci

Sara Angelucci, Marianne/Fire, 2000, c-print mounted on aluminum

and laminated, CCCA.

Today I met Sara Angelucci, who is a well-known Toronto-based photographer. I am aware of her work because for a period of time I was trying to familiarize myself with the photographers listed on the website of the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art. I was pleased when I saw that she had selected my favourite photograph of hers to put on her business card.

Anyway, she came in to the library at the Art Gallery of Hamilton to do research on her next project, and since that is where I work I had the opportunity to talk to her. It was exciting! She told me that she had dinner on Saturday with the very person whose photography is the focus of my thesis: Edward Burtynsky! She told me that beginning September 16th there will be an exhibition of Burtynsky's photographs at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery in Toronto, and it will include his latest work on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico alongside his shipbreaking series from Bangladesh. I can't WAIT to see this.

Then my boss, Tobi, who is the curator of Canadian historical art, came in and invited me to have lunch with her and Sara. It was thrilling! We ate at the Café at AGH, which has delicious, fresh, and beautiful food that is made with much love. Helena, who owns the Café, is extremely passionate about food--healthy, organic food specifically. Well, it turns out that Sara and Tobi really love talking about food, too, because that's all we talked about the entire lunch.

Sara told us that when she was in Urbino, Italy, she ate pasta that was so delicious that she started to cry. Tobi said that when she was on vacation--I can't remember where--she and her friend discovered a hut that offered the most divine combination of chicken, rice, peas, and beans. They would drink on the beach and then stumble over to the hut to eat that dish--everyday, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Helena told us that when she and her husband went to La Cantina in Hamilton for their anniversary, she sent her order back twice. Just moments earlier Tobi had recommended La Cantina to Sara. After hearing Helena's story, Tobi advised Sara not to go there, and Sara replied that she never will.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

--Robert Frost

Harald Sohlberg

Harald Sohlberg, En blomstereng nordpå (Flower Meadows in the North), 1905.

Harald Sohlberg, Storgaten Røros, 1904.

Harald Sohlberg (1869-1935) was a Norwegian Neo-romantic painter. The "psychic vibrations" of his landscapes attracted the admiration of Lawren Harris, a member of the Group of Seven, when he and J.E.H. MacDonald (also of the Group of Seven) attended an exhibition of Scandinavian art at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo in 1913.

The paintings at this show portrayed the Scandinavian landscape as both rugged and mystical. Drawn to this particular conception of the landscape, The Group of Seven began to incorporate Scandinavian themes in their paintings of the Canadian landscape.

P.S. The paintings accompanying this post are not meant to serve as evidence of the rugged Scandinavian landscape...I just like them.

I was at work and decided to visit my go-to site for pornography, The Senior Times, but it was blocked! My heart was filled with disappointment.

Dead chicken

J.W. Beatty, Ablain-St. Nazaire, 1918, oil on canvas, CN 8102, Canadian War Museum

At work I read a biography by Dorothy Hoover on J.W. Beatty (1869-1941), a Canadian painter who excelled in the genre of landscape. Here is a shocking excerpt I came across: "At the age of thirteen he was expelled for putting a dead chicken on the teacher's desk."

Getting expelled for putting food on your teacher's desk is just ridiculous. I mean, imagine it's Good Friday and all you really want is to give your teacher a dead fish, but you can't--you'd get expelled.

I hate her

Today I overheard a loud girl say into her phone, "She seriously walks like a man. Why does she do that? It's so annoying...I hate her."

I shot her a disapproving look to let her know that I didn't appreciate her crazy attitude.

In hindsight, the look may not have been all that successful considering that my furrowed brow--which was emanating disapproval--was hidden beneath my bangs.

I hope she didn't think I was admiring her visage.