My iPad Mini arrived today. I am all in love. My purse will be much happier carrying this, rather than the big one.
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Poppies
Last night, during the show’s intermission, I was chatting with two women who were visiting from out-of-town. One was from New York (state?) and the other was from Chicago. And the one from Chicago asked about why so many people were wearing red flowers on their lapels. I guess I knew that this isn’t an American thing, but the question still caught me by surprise.
La Cage
Sio and I saw La Cage aux Folles at the Royal Alex last night — it was a fun production with great costumes, fun dance numbers, and all the romp and farce that you might expect from this show. I wasn’t especially happy with George Hamilton as Georges. I thought he acted the role well, and sold me on both his love for Albin and his willingness to go along with Jean-Michel’s assholish request to banish Albin from meeting the future in-laws. But his singing was subpar, and he wasn’t really providing any dancing. I think that Albin is clearly the more delicious role, but Georges’ role, I think, requires greater subtlety. Like I said: Hamilton sold me on the acting, but I would have preferred a stronger singer. The only role more disappointing was Michael Lowney as Jean-Michel — a stiff, awkward turn as the love-struck son.
On the other hand, Christopher Sieber was wonderful as Albin — camp, funny, prima-donna-ish, and also vulnerable. Act 1 ends with Albin’s number, “I am what I am”, and Sieber nails it perfectly. He channels so much hurt and at the same time pride — it’s an emotionally potent act closer.
I was also really fond of Jeigh Madjus as the butler/maid, Jacob.
There were a couple of scenes in the first act that felt a touch long — especially the “La Cage aux Folles” nightclub scene just prior to the Act close. The second act was far tighter (although I think Sio thought “The Best of Times is Now” just kept going on and on).
I’ve had the soundtrack to La Cage for twenty years, but I’ve never seen a production of it (but I’ve seen the French movie, and The Birdcage). So it was good to finally see a production. It was a good show, and I’m glad I saw it, but I still feel like it could have been stronger.
Thought for the Day
I am hearing a great deal of talk about “appealing to Hispanics” and “appealing to women.” But I am not hearing much about endorsing actual policies. What happened last night is not a matter of cosmetics. This is not false consciousness. This a real response to real policies. Mitt Romney actually endorsed Arizona’s immigration policies. You can’t fix this by flashing more pictures of brown people.
This is not a “branding problem.” This is a “problem problem.”
— Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Latino Vote: Wide Awake, Cranky, Taking Names”
Thought for the Day
And her voice is a string of coloured beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.
– Edna St. Vincent Millay
A phone for each hand
In Haiti, people who can afford it often carry multiple phones because the reliability of cell service is so awful. Over the last few weeks, I’ve also been carrying two phones. My reasons are different: I’m a mobile developer, and I’ve been wanting to improve my familiarity with the Android platform. So here are my phones:
The one on the left is a Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean; the phone on the right is an iPhone 5 running iOS 6. Strictly speaking, the iPhone 5 is the newer phone; I’ve had the Nexus a few weeks longer than I’ve had the iPhone 5, but the 5 just replaced my three-year-old 3S (that’s 21 in mobile years!).
iPad Mini
Apparently, Engadget writes:
It’s still not “small,” though. While a fully outstretched adult hand can generally grasp it without help from the other, you’ll still want both for typing and using apps. It’s still too big for your average pocket, and it’s not going to save you a heck of a lot of room in your knapsack compared to the 9.7-incher.
Me, I think, my current iPad is just a touch heavier than I want in my purse. I do carry it in my purse, but I think it’s a bit heavy. The Mini would probably be perfect.
Apparently Engadget doesn’t imagine purses.
Canada’s first black MP dies
Alexander, Canada’s first black MP and cabinet minister, was lieutenant governor from 1985 to 1991.
Lincoln Alexander had tears in his eyes, touched by the emotional farewell, the kind words and the two standing ovations.
“I feel so sad at this particular time,” he said in his Zeus-like baritone.
That day marked an end for the man who commanded one and all to “call me Linc.”
That goodbye was more than 30 years ago, when he retired his Hamilton West seat in the House of Commons, having been the first black Canadian to serve as MP, and a cabinet minister.
He was closing in on 60.
— “Lincoln Alexander dies at 90”, Toronto Star
Toronto Traffic
A new survey shows Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto parked among the top five cities in North America when it comes to traffic delays.
Vancouver is second only to Los Angeles in the 26 cities tallied in a traffic-congestion survey from GPS firm TomTom covering the second quarter of this year.
— “Worst traffic list puts Vancouver, Montreal before Toronto”, CBC
I would like to suggest that these survey-makers have never been to Pòtoprens.
MINUSTAH: Not sure if protecting is their job
UNITED NATIONS, October 8 — Long after Mario Joseph and other lawyer had petitioned the UN for introducing cholera to Haiti, six months ago a block from the UN Inner City Press asked Joseph what he thought of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s responsiveness.
Joseph replied, surprisingly diplomatic given the delay, that immunity should not mean impunity.
Last week the UN’s top envoy in Haiti Mariano Fernandez told Inner City Press that he could not answer on cholera, since a legal claim– Joseph’s — remains pending.
Now, Mario Joseph and other lawyers including Newton St-Juste and Andre Michel are facing death threats in Haiti for their work.
So Inner City Press on Monday asked Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky if the UN’s mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, had within its mandate to offer protection to human rights lawyers under threat in the very city the UN has hung around in for years, Port au Prince. Video here, from Minute 8:24.
Nesirky replied that “we’re certainly aware of the report” — it would be hard not to be — but “if I have anything further on that, I’ll let you know.”
— “While Lawyer Suing UN Is Threatened in Haiti, MINUSTAH Is “Aware” But Nothing More”, Inner City Press
Wait. What’s MINUSTAH’s mandate, again?
