This is the Philip Glass Ensemble at Koerner Hall in Toronto last night. It was an excellent concert and I especially enjoyed hearing the suite of pieces from Glassworks. My view was restricted by the heads of the people in front of me so I couldn't get the two musicians on the far right of the stage in the frame.
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| The Philip Glass Ensemble at Koerner Hall |
On Sunday, Nancy and I drove over to Whitby to see Disclosure Day at the IMAX theatre. Even though we could walk up to the local Crappyplex, seeing big movies on the biggest screen available has become our preference.
Based on the initial reviews, I was looking forward to seeing Spielberg's latest epic, but it didn't live up to my hopes. It was good, but not great. I enjoyed it, but it was overlong and muddled in the final third. On the positive side, Emily Blunt is really good and some of the action scenes were impressive, especially on the IMAX screen. Unfortunately, the big reveal at the end felt contrived and unrealistically optimistic. Overall, it was more like a long X Files episode than Close Encounters. Let's call it "Disappointment Day".
As The Guardian reports, I'm not the only one to feel this way.
Yet if early box office has been solid enough, secondary indices – not least a slew of disappointed foyer texts from friends and loved ones – would suggest the film has itself proved distinctly polarising. In the US, market research firm CinemaScore – which polls opening-day cinemagoers to assess a film’s commercial prospects – graded Disclosure Day a B, the joint second-worst for a Spielberg film, ahead of AI: Artificial Intelligence (recipient of a harsh C), dead level with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Headmaster Haneke again shakes his weary head.
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| Adobe Photos Express |
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| Canva Affinity |
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| Microsoft Photos |
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| Pixlr Express |
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| Pixlr Editpr |
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| Silkypix RAW File Converter EX |
The photo this week is one I took a couple of years ago with my Fujifilm X-S10. I used Silkpix RAW File Converter to switch the film simulation from Velvia to Acros + G Filter, boost the contrast, and crop. I thought this one worked better in black and white than the original colour exposure.
Fujifilm X-S10 with Fujinon 27mm/F2.8 WR at F8, 1/450 second, ISO 320, Acros + R Filter film simulation
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| Tree roots in black and white |
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| Tree roots in colour |
Sadly, the great jazz saxophonist, Sonny Rollins, died recently. I never got to see him perform but have listened to and enjoyed many of his albums. For this week's musical treat, here are three concert videos of his performances, starting with a BBC recoding of a 1974 gig at Ronnie Scott's famous London club.
Next up, the Sonny Rollins Quintet Live at Jazz Festival Bern, Kursaal, Bern, Switzerland - 1985.
Finally, here's the Sonny Rollins Sextet live in Munich in 1992.
The possibility of Alberta separating from Canada and becoming an independent state has suddenly become a major news item in Canada. I've posted about this quite frequently in the last year, including links to several articles discussing US interference in our politics.
Now there will be a referendum in Alberta in October with one of the questions being: ""Should Alberta remain a province of Canada, or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?"
Distrust of the federal government and resentment about Alberta's place in the Canadian federation has long been a part of politics in Alberta. I lived in Grande Prairie for five years in the early 1980s and it was certainly evident then but there was no serious discussion of separating on the part of the Alberta government. That has changed with the rise of the UCP and Premier Danielle Smith.
The best article about the subject that I have seen so far is Alberta: the jilted lover of Confederation, by Jared Wesley, who is a professor of political science at the University of Alberta. The article is the text of a speech that he delivered to the Rideau Club Roundtable in Ottawa, on June 3, 2026.
The talk is divided into these sections:
The overall message should be simple: Alberta is not a problem to be managed. Alberta is not a spoiled child to be disciplined or dismissed. Alberta is not an alien province to be decoded from afar. Alberta is a respected, heard, and valued partner in Confederation.
That is the message Canadians need to send. And it is the message Albertans need to hear from one another. Because the choice before Alberta this fall is not simply whether to remain in Canada. It is whether we can imagine a version of Alberta big enough to include all of us. And whether Canada can imagine a version of itself that has room for Alberta not at the margins, not alone at the centre, but in a leadership role in creating a better country.
It is a long article but you won't find a better analysis of the current situation in any of the major news outlets.
The internet is a dangerous place these days and there's always one more new thing to watch out for. Right now, it's fake CAPTCHAs.
A real CAPTCHA (which stands for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” by the way — just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) runs in your browser. It might ask you to click a box, identify images, or wait for a quick verification. What it shouldn’t do is ask you to send a text message, open your phone’s SMS app, tell you to press a strange combination of keys, or ask you to copy and paste anything into your computer.
Take a couple of minutes to read the article. It may save you a lot of grief later.
The winners of the 2026 Locus Awards have been announced. The awards are voted on by subscribers and readers of Locus, the long-running newsmagazine of the science fiction and fantasy field.
Short reviews of movies and TV shows I watched in May. Now that we're watching the Blue Jays, there won't be as much here.
Movies
I took this photo earlier this week when Nancy and I travelled in to Toronto for a fancy supper to celebrate our anniversary. This is Yonge Street, about a block north of Dundas, showing what's left of what was once known as the Yonge Street strip, partly because of its many strip clubs. The large building on the right is part of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), formerly Ryerson Polytechnic. It stands on the former site of SAM The Record Man and A and A's, two great record stores that are long gone. The Zanzibar Tavern, one of Toronto's few remaining strip club, still stands.
Taken with my Pixel 8 Pro and cropped and straightened in Google Photos.
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| What's left of the Yonge Street strip |
I first discovered the New Riders of The Purple Sage through their association with the Grateful Dead, who they opened for when I saw the Dead in 1970 and 1971. I enjoyed their music; I guess you could say they were my gateway to country and western.
From a post by Peter Christiansen in the Grateful Dead group on Facebook
"Powerglide". Second album by the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Wonderful followup to that most excellent first album. Buddy Cage replaces Jerry Garcia on pedal steel. A number of guest appearances including Jerry Garcia (banjo) and Bill Kreutzmann (percussion) from the Grateful Dead, and noted session player Nicky Hopkins (piano). Another fun, sing along, toe tapping collection of songs. Covers "Hello Mary Lou", "Willie and the Hand Jive", "I Don't Need No Doctor" "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)" take on the energy of the band while original writing on the others contributes significantly. Another important part of my high school days.
Of their albums, Powerglide was my favourite. It still holds up well after more than fifty years.
We'll start with the newest feature for account recovery, which is Recovery Contacts. This is a list of up to 10 people you specify, and when you're trying to get back into your Google account, they can be asked to confirm access in the same way that you might normally approve a prompt on your own phone (which is helpful if your phone is lost, for example).
I have a friend whose phone was stolen while travelling. He was not able to recover his account and lost access to many valuable photos and a YouTube account he used to promote his business. If he'd followed some of the steps in this article, that wouldn't have happened.
It may take some time and be a bit of a hassle to get your account set up so you can recover it, but it's worth it.
Nancy and I went to see The Mandalorian and Grogu last night at the IMAX theatre in Whitby. I didn't enjoy it. There was enough plot to fill out an average episode of the TV show, padded into a 2-hour-plus movie with a lot of pointless action scenes. No character development at all. The Mandalorian might as well have been a 2nd-tier Marvel superhero. Even in the IMAX format, much of the movie was dark and hard to follow.
Wait for it to show up on Disney+ if you want to see it. (That may be a general reaction; the theatre was maybe 10 percent full).
I've been having a lot of trouble watching movies, and some TV shows, these days. Part of that is due to my eyes lacking enough rods to give me proper vision in dim light, but that's only part. I've talked about this with my family and friends and they agree that a lot of what their watching is darker than it used to be.
The New York Times has a feature article (gift link) about this. It starts with a reference to the recent movie, The Devil Wears Prada 2.
“The heartbreaking story of a woman who can no longer afford lamps in her office,” read one viral post, showing Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly of yore alongside a screenshot from the new dimly-lit trailer. “So did we just forget how to light movies?” asked another, above bright images from the 2006 film beside shadowy, shrouded shots from the sequel. Noting that the sequel employs the same director and cinematographer as the original, one poster lamented “that isn’t a skill issue it’s a choice. So why DO new movies insist on looking like that. Absolutely lifeless.”
That's someting I noticed when I saw Project Hail Mary recently; it was dim, even in the IMAX format. But there are other things going on.
The article goes on to reference a YouTube video titled 'Why Movies Just Don't Feel 'Real' Any More" by Tom van der Linden. It's a bit on the nerdy side but I highly recommended. He talks about the various factors influencing the look of modern movies and makes some very incisive points, including the lack of depth-of-field in many shots.
From the Times:
For van der Linden, the blurry-background conundrum is exacerbated by “fake-looking C.G.I. elements.” He pointed to 2025’s “Jurassic World Rebirth”: Compared to the technically-jankier but actually-superior “Jurassic Park” (1993), the latest installment’s backgrounds are constantly out of focus. The environments — even in scenes shot on location — are rendered “faker” through digital visual effects that undermine the world-building. “Subconsciously, I’m not registering that landscape as a real place, and that detracts from the reality of the movie as a whole,” he said.
I've watched the video and found it quite illuminating (pun intended). It's definitely worth half and hour of your time, though it may make you a lot more ciritical about what you're seeing on screen.
It was late April, the fourth night of a nine-show run at Sphere in Las Vegas, and the band had just begun its second set. As they slid from a thin boogie into an atonal blur, the screen that swallowed them took the sold-audience of about 17,000 on a grisly animated tour of a damaged body—teeth pocked with fillings, a tummy laden with plastic toys, lungs puffing hard. As the camera wormed its way up and out of the body and back to the mouth, a wrecking ball swung toward the teeth, smashing them with three terrifying hits. The image faded. The room went dark. The band kept playing. The crowd erupted.
The screen needed to go black because a fleet of video teams with a squadron of computers and servers at their command needed time to load a system that has forever reinvented the way Sphere can work: a physics-defying virtual model of Phish’s famous light rig, programmed and run by a pair of technicians so legendary in lighting and jam circles that they have been profiled by The New York Times. The system, the most expensive visual element of Phish’s two Sphere residences, allows Chris Kuroda and Andrew Giffin to control 7,080 individual sources of light, all designed to look like they’re part of physical light fixtures flying above the band. Because it is not mechanical, it can move in directions and with a nimbleness that traditional lighting rigs could never match. It can charge the audience like a bull or pull back into a bright vanishing point.WATCH
I've included some videos of their performance that show off the new capabilities. The first includes the songs mentioned in the above quote.
And here's one more that gives a sense of the scale of the venue.
Finally, here's a review of one of the concerts from the April residency. The author isn't a Phish fan but he was impressed by the visuals and has some advice about the best seating locations if you are planning to attend a concert at The Sphere.
This week's photo is from one of the few warm days we've had in the last couple of weeks. It was warm enough to go for an evening walk down to the lakefront; an activity that we gladly shared with many other people who crowded the waterfront area. This picture is from my Pixel 8 Pro and was slightly cropped and touched up in Google Photos.
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| Sunset at the marina |
More and more, I'm finding that jazz is the music that gives me the most comfort and enjoyment right now. This week's musical treat is a from an artist that I've not listened to much, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. I've known about him since I started listening to jazz and I knew he was a multi-instrumentalist (sax and flute, mostly) but for some reason never paid much attentin to his music.
One night recently, I was listening to the jazz channel on Sirius XM, as I often do at bedtime, and was blown away by what I was hearing. It was "You'll Never Get to Heaven" from Kirk's live album, Bright Moments. From Wikipedia:
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (born Ronald Theodore Kirk; August 7, 1935[1] – December 5, 1977),[2] known earlier in his career simply as Roland Kirk, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute, and many other instruments. He was renowned for his onstage vitality; in his shows, virtuoso improvisation was accompanied by comic banter, political ranting, and the simultaneous playing of several instruments.
Bright Moments seems to be a good representation of Kirk's music. It was recorded in 1973, just a couple of years before a stroke restricted his playing and four years before his untimely death. I regret not paying more attention to his music before this, an oversight that I will be trying to rectify.
Here's something I didn't expect to find; a performance from the Montreux Jazz Festival, filmed in 1972. As you might expect given the period, the video quality isn't great but the audio is fine. It's an energetic performance and fascinating to see his multi-instrument technique in action.
Finally, here's a short (27 minute) documentary about his life.
