My (Flickr) vacation

In March my family went to Yucatan, Mexico.  We bought a new digital camera at the airport, and the girls each brought their own.  I spent the first five days of the trip documenting ruins, the Mayan village where we stayed, cenotes where we swam, tour guides, villagers we interacted with, animals, flora, us, etc.  After I'd captured 100 images I offered to show my kids my fabulous pics but before I could even say anything my 10-year-old had erased them all.  I was so gutted I refused to take any more photos, though my daughter managed to have enough to give a flavour of the trip.

But it just wasn't the same.  So it occurred to me, as I started to explore the wonders of Flickr, that I could recreate my trip with someone else's photos.  So, here are the highlights of Yucatan 2013....

(Sorry about the layout - Blogger kind of sucks for that)

Valladolid

Valladolid

Maya Women

Maya huts

Cenote

Ek Balam

   

Chichen itza souvenirs

Chichen Itza

Chichen itza

Puerto Morelos

Croco Cun Zoo

Tulum

Wedding Invitation, version 2.crazy

My cousin, who has made it big in Far East finance, is getting married in September.  The invitation arrived today from Singapore.  I actually had to sign for it. Here is the box (yes, box) it arrived in:

Inside was a folder...

Inside that was a photo and wedding invitation proper, plus weekend schedule...

The wedding is taking place at an exclusive resort in the Philippines, so normally this whole thing would seem like a fairytale book from the library - utter fantasy unconnected with my life.  Luckily, my dad wants to attend to represent the Canadian side of the family, so he and I are heading out for a week to loll on the beach in Cebu and take in the sights in Manila.  Can't wait to see if the ceremony and reception live up to the billing!  It will be Kardashian-rific!

(Interestingly the couple has declined all presents and has notified guests that any gifts will be donated to charity..!)

In contrast, my wedding invitation also featured a photo of the blushing couple, but was made on a colour copier.  I will post it if I can dig it out...

They don't make live albums like they used to...

I was in the car today with my 13-year-old, and the DJ introduced a song from a live Queen album from 1979.  I mentioned you hardly hear about live albums anymore and she asked what that was, which sort of proved the point.    I tried to explain what they were and why any one would want to listen to one. How occasionally the live version was more famous than the original (anyone actually listened to any Peter Frampton that wasn't live?)  But I wondered if anyone even bothers anymore, especially considering how concert versions of songs are so often auto tuned there isn't much point.


There certainly is demand to see  a band live, to experience them in the flesh.  I was blown away by Muse earlier this year - if for nothing more than the sheer volume and the intense light show (although they are in fact very talented and put on an entertaining show). That being said, everything seemed to coordinate down to the last bulb flash, I wonder now if a live album of that show would have any point, as there wouldn't have been any room for improvising, riffing, grooving, ramping, or anything else that smacked of spontaneity.

What if there were bands that only recorded live? Or only toured and had fans record each show, sort of like the Grateful Dead did for years?  Fans could share their recordings online, then pick their favorite version of the songs they liked and put together their own "greatest hits" package...  Still, is that the way to capture the raw, real moment? Or is it quixotic to try to capture the audience connection?

20 Feet from Stardom

I was fortunate  today to see the marvellous documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, about Motown/rock and roll back up singers.  It's sort of a counterpart to the amazing Standing in the Shadows of Motown, which was about the session musicians that made the indelible sound behind all the major Motown  hits.  The big difference of course, is that the earlier film featured male instrumentalists (the self-styled Funk Brothers), while this one featured female vocalists.  While both films touch on the powerlessness experienced by gifted musicians at the mercy of record labels and producers, 20 Feet had the added heartbreak of people who had to decide if they were going to take a shot at being number one, then discovering that it takes more than talent and passion to make it happen.

The best part of both films of course is hearing the musicians reprise their hits. The hairs stood right up on my arms both times!  In one scene the Blossoms (the voices behind hits credited to the Crystals) see each other for the first time in ages, and sing a song they haven't sung together in 34 years - and there's not one false note.  Unfortunately, due to the nature of their role, they can't just pick up and have a reunion tour like the Funk Brothers did, nor can they do more than provide their vocal part unmoored to lead singers and musicians, whereas the Funk Brothers were able to fully recreate their hits with new guest singers.

Another difference is the spiritual element of singing, which provides a bit of salvation for those that have seen their dreams crushed.  Even though it comes from within you, when combined with other voices to create  perfect resonance and harmony, it becomes something more than the individual.  The wisest singers recognise and respect this, even in the face of disillusionment with the music business.  The truly successful are the ones who are happy to find joy in everything they sing, regardless of who's at the front of the stage.  In a poetic moment, one singer who still tours (albeit behind the Rolling Stones and Sting) describes her soaring non-verbal improvising as blowing a feather from her hand and not letting it touch the ground.

So...how can we each find that transcendent moment in our lives?

Storytelling, old and new

On one of my Linked In feeds yesterday, I read about how technology is reshaping storytelling.  A published author/game developer wrote about three recent trends, including immersive fiction (eg a Zombie app where you literally run from imaginary zombies, while the app tracks you GPS and gives you fictional items to pick up at real locations), social fiction (eg a crowdsourced novel that shapes public tweets into a murder mystery), and reader's choice (eg a gaming type platform that lets you pick outcomes as you move through the story).  I was struck by how much of an influence gaming - something I have zero interest or experience in - now has on popular culture.  I also wondered about how much the new formats would shape fiction itself - would there be a new genre to emerge or would it be the same old tropes??

The same day, I read  a Robert Fulford column in the National Post  about a Kafka biography.  At the end he relates a sweet  anecdote, also about the power of storytelling:

In [Dora Diament, his wife's] memoirs she told a story that’s become a favourite of Kafka lore. They were walking in a park when they came upon a little girl who was crying. When Kafka asked what was wrong, she said she had lost her doll.

No, Kafka said, the doll wasn’t lost, she had just gone away on a journey. “I know because she sent me a letter.” The girl, suspicious, asked if he had it with him. He said it was at home but he would bring it tomorrow. That night, Diamant said, he worked on the letter as seriously as if it were a story for publication. The next day the girl was waiting in the park and Kafka read it to her. The doll wrote that she needed a change, which began a playful little project for Kafka. Every day for three weeks he wrote a letter, until finally the doll announced that she was getting married and probably wouldn’t be in touch again. As Diamant wrote, Kafka resolved the girl’s disappointment through storytelling, the most effective way he knew of bringing order into the world.

The significant thing here is the bringing order part.  The little girl has no control over her world or even the story, unlike the gamers.  However, this story is powerful for her because it is about her and her experience.  The effectiveness depends on her choosing to accept Kafka's premise and the doll's outcome.  In a similar way, in a world of constant stimulation, technology oriented audiences want to have a say in their stories, feel like they could manage a horror situation, connect with their neighbours in writing about a location they recognize, or have a story with an emotional resonance for them.

Personally, as much as I complain about my book club's picks that are populated by annoying characters, I still respect the journey a novelist takes me on.  Besides which, I'm way too indecisive to ever enjoy anything where I had to do more than simply choose whether or not to finish!

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Before Midnight - a true story

While our two kids are away at camp my husband and I have been enjoying a staycation - eating out with friends, seeing plays and movies, playing golf (me at least), reading a backlog of magazines...  My husband even ran out of chores to do (a first) and was forced to relax a little.

Last night we saw Before Midnight, being fans of the first two movies in the series.  I had identified with the first one, having had a few European romances in my college/post-college years.  Not so much with the second one, as as I wasn't drifting around in my thirties, but the banter was still enjoyable.  We were bracing for the third one, however, as most married couples might, knowing all too well the itch of underlying unresolved tensions and petty bickering.  And we weren't disappointed.  The setting is lovely - made us both yearn to run off to Greece - and the opening dialogues are fun and playful.  Then Celine and Jesse get a kid-free evening in a nice hotel care of their friends.  And after a cheery beginning, the evening devolves into  a spat they've clearly had many times, ending with her saying she doesn't love him any more, and stomping off. Luckily the relationship is strong, Jesse shows he is committed, and the movie ends on a hopeful note.

Of course the same thing happened literally two days earlier with us.  We had planned to do a little window shopping on Queen St (something we never get to do with kids) on the way to meet Michael's brother for dinner.  He chose that moment to announce a deal breaker in our relationship (something involving time management we fought over for 20 years that is based on our personalities and that can't be changed, but can only be, well, managed better).  We walked up and down Queen St alright, but shouting and swearing (me) and offering threats and sarcasm (him).  Our precious time together was quickly going south.  Why here? I thought, why not on our couch at home?  The same thing happened on our 20th anniversary night in a hotel, on the way out to dinner.  Why now?

Maybe it's the perspective we get when we're not in the middle of life, just trying to get through the day and its complications.  Maybe those alone times are the best time for reflection - you step out of your life to better look back at it.  Our problems aren't as life-changing as the movie characters' (they face the possibility of uprooting their lives in a trans-atlantic move), but they are there and they are constant, and they make you question why you are in the relationship.  Like the characters, however, we also had the luxury of time together to face up to the problems, to see the bigger picture and, most importantly, to recommit.

I promised just yesterday I wouldn't use this blog to talk about relationships.  It's hard though when your cultural item is  about relationships.  I guess my point is that while I was originally wary of these films because I wasn't a big Ethan Hawke fan, and all his pseudo-intellectual yammering,  I am now grateful for the light at the end of the tunnel they shine.  For all of us in the trenches, I salute Celine and Jesse.

A new beginning

I've finally decided to blog about my own personal culture pics, sort of like GOOP, only less obviously self indulgent.  Probably also without millions of followers, but if I can inspire  a single person, well, it'll be a start.

I plan to share my thoughts and picks on books and magazines (adults and kids, fiction & non), art, travel, food, life in the big city, movies and TV, dance and theatre, art...all those great ways for people to express themselves and connect with others. 

What this will NOT include:  anything about relationships or parenting, fashion or shopping, sports or video games, management theory or stock tips.  No lists or Top Tens, no ways to make your life better in three easy steps.  Just my reaction to and desire to share things that inspire me and make life beautiful.