I’ve been on pub tours before, but never one that fired my imagination like this.
Twelve of us were led through the cobbled streets of the Old and New Town’s of Edinburgh on a Literary Pub Tour. It began at the Beehive Inn, a large pub with an appropriately aged appearance, just off the Royal Mile.
I got this one from a friend. Not new, but its pretty short and ridiculously funny. Seriously. I have never laughed so hard reading a book before. Back cover summary:
“The only thing Shane cares about is leaving. But this time it’s complicated: there’s a sadistic corporate climber who thinks she’s his girlfriend, a rent-subsidized affair with his landlord’s wife, a dentist who won’t stop crying, and a deaf woman who winds up dead. When Shane becomes a suspect, he’ll have to clear the good name he’s never had and doesn’t particularly want: his own.” (Amazon) (Paul Neilan’s Blog)
It all starts with the beat of a heart. The entrance corridor pulses red in time. Just like the beginning of a human life.
Body Worlds & The Story of the Heart is located in the Ontario Science Center and features over two hundred specimens. The complex arrangement of the cardiovascular system, especially how the heart connects with other anatomical systems, is revealed with stunning transparency.
Every figure, cross section, and model is poised to give the viewer a three hundred and sixty degree panorama. Sometimes a specific part of the system in question is accented in the display, like the major blood vessels or the nervous system, but the whole body is powered by the beating of the heart.
The full-sized figures are the premier attraction. They are frozen in the poses they are named after. The Ski Jumper is caught mid-jump. The Archer is captured right after she releases her arrow. Each of the dozen figures is arranged differently to show a unique view of the muscles and organs.
Surely, you’re thinking, these people didn’t die that way. No, they donated their bodies to science. Gunther van Hagens came up with a process called Plastination in 1977 as a smarter way to preserve organs for medical study. After much improvement, this method was brought to the public. Now Body Worlds has been seen by the eyes of millions and there are currently six exhibitions running on three continents.
The heart’s role in our life and history is emphasized throughout the exhibit, as is the importance of a healthy heart to living a happy life. The heart has always been of pivotal importance in literature and religion. Science is no different.
The exhibit runs until February 9, 2010. It is located on Don Mills Road in Toronto, south of the intersection of Don Mills and Eglinton. Entrance is $28.50 for an adult, and $18.50 for a child, which includes a ticket to Body Worlds and access to most of the Center.
The Satanic Satanist by Portugal. The Man
At the rate of one solid album per year, Portugal. The Man is a veritable record factory. The first time I saw them live I was in a small, nameless venue in Philadelphia. That was back in 2006 when they dropped Waiter: You Vultures. I was hooked before I even knew their name, and I never forgot it. If you haven’t heard of them you have a lot of catching up to do, because back in July they came out with LP #4.
This one is called The Satanic Satanist and, as with each album before it, their sound seems to rise reborn out of the ashes of the previous release like some experimental musical phoenix. The soothing sing-along melodies and simple acoustic chords are still there, but the background is punctuated with ambient tracks for a more upbeat pace. The guitars are heavier, with a good dose of scorching blues riffs, and the lyrics, as always, are wonderfully weird. For icing on the cake, there is a twin album called The Majestic Majesty with acoustic versions of ten of the eleven new songs.
Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey
Bright Shiny Morning is like a walk through the streets of Los Angeles. You see a huge cast of characters. Some are famous, some are poor. Some pass through in the length of a page, others in the length of a line. A select few return on spurts throughout the book. One famous actor’s private sexual proclivity causes an expensive scandal. In Venice Beach, a homeless drunk searches for a purpose to his life. Meanwhile, the history of The City of Angels is revealed chronologically in the breaks between these stories. There is tragedy next to humor, sex beside love, and beauty beneath skid row.
On the down side, some of the long lists of names and places are skim-worthy, and Frey’s grammar is often so convoluted it becomes necessary to reread a sentence two or three times. However, despite the unusual, almost anti-novelistic approach that he takes, James Frey proves to be a compelling storyteller. Bathed in the enduring California sunshine, his characters seek the fulfillment of their American Dreams in a city where hopeless hysteria lives down the street from perfect serenity.
I read this novel a few weeks ago in a wonderfully successful attempt to procrastinate on school work. It is Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I found it, out of place, while wandering through the fourth floor of the library. It was sticking out on the top shelf and it caught my eye.
The novel is one of those self-aware narratives that I am so fond of. You could call it post-modern (but I hate that term). It is fiction, and the author acknowledges this in the narrative without neutralizing any venom. “Isn’t it true that an author can only write about himself?”
The compelling narrative is augmented with some interesting philosophical speculation, mostly stemming from Nietzsche and the idea of Eternal Return. The novel starts there before the characters are introduced, and, I’ll admit, I bit that hook like a stupid fish. But even if you have no interest in philosophy or existential speculation, cheating husbands and the investigation into human nature played out by the four main characters will leave you salivating for more. And wondering… Lightness or weight?