Fordian Slips: Another Day in Toronto
Ford asks that Rob Ford & his supports stop using their iconic logo.
Argos distance themselves from Ford’s use of inappropriate language.
Mayor Ford still has access to official Toronto logo, ……….sigh.
To Torontonians: Remember, like kidney stones, this too shall pass, ……… eventually.
Antique Impressions: Big Bird, Big Cat
Note: Original photographs were taken several years ago at the Toronto Zoo. It was during the March Break and there was an unusual warm spell. The animals were out and about, so were lots of families.
I was going through older files and thinking about how time passes & moments turn to memories. It is easy to forget how the clock’s face appears to stay the same. The days run ahead & the clock’s hands paints our faces with new lines of experience; now becomes once, a set of antique impressions.
Existential Friday: Who are You ?
We search for meaning and a sense of self. We look into the existential mirror and wonder where is Waldo. Who are we ? Are we satisfied with our lives, environment, relationships, what we have become or are becoming?
There are times and places where society allows us to become an idealized self or where we let down our hair and unveil an aspect of our personality. Halloween, New Year’s Eve, Mardi Gras, sporting events and cultural events let us put on a costume to become what we wish we were or express an inner part of our self-image.
One type of social event that has grown into a part of main stream culture is the Comic Book & Science Fiction Convention. As Mass Media entertainment has expanded. the so-called Geek Culture has become very profitable and main stream. A significant part of these conventions is cos-play, or “costume play”. It is an activity in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction.
It is intriguing how some types of cultural behaviour can be looked down in one context and be acceptable in another. To present one’s self as a prince or princess at Con. may get have some people questioning your priorities or ability to deal with the real world. But portraying yourself as the princess in a gown who has found her prince at a wedding is celebration of life and for some a significant religious event.
White became a popular option in 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg, where Victoria wore a white gown to incorporate some lace she prized. The Victorian style has become a template/standard.
For many, painting your face and wearing crazy hats for sporting events has become acceptable. After all, professional athletes and the teams are real heroes, unlike comic book heroes or the characters from fantasy literature or science fiction movies. When a professional athlete puts on their costume, um uniform, goes out to won one for owner, that is a “real” media event. They are real heroes not media constructs.
Our search for self and community takes many forms. It is fed by social norms, rituals, beliefs, practices, as well as the arts and Mass Media. We construct realities to create social cohesion and identification. In the process , we identify “Us” and “The Other”. We apply value judgments to build our own sense of self worth. We role play battles, between teams of athletes, or people who become heroes and monsters. We can all sit down together and perhaps have a hotdog & a drink, share a moment of self discovery, ……. if we so choose.
Reflecting on Architecture
I went back to photographs taken October 2009. While in Toronto I was able to take a series of shots of reflections of buildings & landscape reflected in surface of different buildings.
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