About a week ago we finished the miniseries Chernobyl (imdb) and it was amazing. One of the best things I’ve seen on TV, maybe. Shocking (turns out I knew very little about the disaster), incredibly sad, perfectly scored, so well-acted, and — apparently — incredibly accurate in its recreation.
More than eight years ago, when brother #2 was visiting, he saw an ad for a new HBO show that got him really excited. It was a TV version of a book series he’d been reading for years, but I’d never heard of. The book series was called A Song Of Ice And Fire. The TV show would be called Game Of Thrones.
It quickly became my favourite show. Not the best, mind you — it was always only high-production-value fantasy escapism — but my favourite. I’d anxiously await new episodes, re-watch every new episode the next day, and consume reviews, critiques, and podcasts about it. I ended up reading the books, and — once the show caught up and passed the books, and diverged from them to a yet-unknown degree — felt the same mild thrill of discovery as everyone else watching.
It ended last night, obviously, with more of a whimper than a bang. The last two seasons, as have been well-documented, felt rushed and absurd, given neither the room to breathe nor the grounding in brute reality afforded the earlier seasons. I still felt compelled to watch, and was engrossed in every second, but it didn’t resonate with me, didn’t affect me the next day. No character was developed in these final two seasons, and ultimately the characters were what drew me in.
That said, if they decide to make a spin-off series about Robert’s Rebellion, I’m cancelling all of my Sunday night plans for three months.
About a week ago we finished Russian Doll (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which was maybe the most enjoyable, inventive (even though it seems like a well-worn plot device), sharply funny series I’ve seen in a while. It’s only eight half-hour episodes so you can blaze through it, but man, is it good. Natasha Lyonne’s incredible, but as a bonus Greta Lee steals every scene she’s in.
Just go watch it.
(Warning: once you do, the following song will be stuck in your head forever.)
We’ve consumed a lot of Netflix documentaries lately. Some good, some freaky.
Shirkers (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a true art piece, a small story told in such a compelling and honest way.
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was mostly pulp, but a bit fascinating because I don’t remember reading much about the case before. Like, how many times did the guy escape?
Meanwhile, Abducted In Plain Sight (imdb | rotten tomatoes) beggared belief. We watched it last night and we’re still bewildered by it today. Not that it was hard to understand; just that…the parents. Watch it. You’ll understand.
Last weekend we watched a movie and finished a season of TV. Don’t let the similar names fool you.
We finished season three of The Good Place (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which continues to be one of the funner, funnier, smarter shows on TV. Later on we watched A Quiet Place (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which was juuuuuuuuuuust a little intense. Admittedly it was a little difficult to become fully immersed into a movie steeped in silence when the people next door were blasting Anchorman, but still: excellent.
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Cover photo by Tom Magliery, used under Creative Commons license
I’ve been sick pretty much off and on since we got back, and have therefore plopped myself in front of the TV whilst sneezing and coughing and moaning and, occasionally, resting. It has meant that I’ve watched quite a few good shows though, some new and some catch-ups we’ve been meaning to do for some time.
Collateral (imdb) was a neat little British cop/political thriller starring Carey Mulligan. Four episodes, boom, done. Boom, excellent.
Of a similar cop/political ilk but double the length, Bodyguard (imdb) was recommended to me and I killed most of it in two days of utter exhaustion. Much more intricate than I was expecting , and it was weird to see Robb Stark as a modern-day police sergeant, but there we go.
After years of putting it off we finally got around to watching Westworld (imdb) and frankly I’m sad we waited so long. It can get pulpy and ridiculous, but it’s also so intricate and layered and raises such interesting questions about morality and the difference between life and code. The end of season 1 was so stunning we immediately jumped into season 2.
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Cover photo by Chris Walts, used under Creative Commons license
As is my annual wont, I’ve collected and curated lists of my favourite consumed media from the year. All listed alphabetically, unless otherwise specified.
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Freedom by Amen Dunes
I guess I’ve been out of the loop by not listening to (or being aware of) Amen Dunes before, but this album grabbed me and kept twisting all year. Sounds desperate and struggle-y but joyful and determined at the same time.
7 by Beach House
Nothing new from Beach House here, but a standard-issue Beach House album is still miles better than almost everything else.
God’s Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
I’ve always been hit and miss(ty) with FJM, with the last album a few years ago only offering up a couple of songs I liked, but this one went a little beyond that and kept luring me back.
Nearer My God by Foxing
I went from feeling like I should like Foxing’s last album and not, to assuming I wouldn’t like this one but then totally getting into it.
With Animals by Duke Garwood & Mark Lanegan
I remain a sucker for Mark Lanegan’s voice no matter what he does (he also guested on Neko Case’s album below) but this dark, brooding, electronic-tinged collection des dirges became my go-to focus/chill music this year.
Pissing Stars by Efrim Manuel Menuck
Speaking of electronic-tinged, this dronier, lighter (in musician count, if not in subject matter) offering from the Godspeed You! Black Emperor member swings from soft to intense to nuts in the space of a song.
Kin by Mogwai
Because I’m Dan and this was Mogwai.
I’m Bad Now by Nap Eyes
Probably less catchy than their sophomore album, but also more mature. They continue to blend elements of bands I don’t really like into something I love.
Hell-On by Neko Case
Neko Case, goddamn hero. Putting out an album after all the personal trauma she went through is remarkable; that it’s this good is amazing. Or maybe that’s what made it possible? Either way, the chorus of “Winnie” might be the most thrilling few seconds of any album this year.
Messeducation by St. Vincent
When you’re an Annie Clark-level genius you can take one of the best rock albums of last year and turn it into an album of stripped-down piano renditions that often sound like they’re sung by an unstable cabaret singer, giving it this whole other layer of broken-down, surging fragility that maybe only her voice could manage.
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I have all but abandoned my film obsession of past years, and as such can only offer the following nine films (versus my usual ten) which I would even consider for barely scraped together a best-of list. Note that I haven’t yet seen The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, BlacKkKlansman, The Death of Stalin, A Fantastic Woman, Free Solo, The Hate U Give, Hereditary, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, A Quiet Place, Roma, Shirkers, Sorry to Bother You, A Star Is Born, Three Identical Strangers, or a host of others.
22 July
I’m a sucker for Paul Greengrass’ style and have always admired how he handles volatile topics, but I still wasn’t sure how this one — about the slaughter of dozens of kids in Norway by a right-wing nutter a few years ago — would come off. I needn’t have worried though.
Avengers: Infinity War
It’s difficult to thread together story lines and characters from a dozen different superhero movies into a coherent, entertaining flick, but the Russo Brothers did it again. Even if it did take 2.5 hours.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
Almost as much gimmick as movie — choose-your-own-adventure is something Netflix can entertain where others can’t — but it works within the frame of Black Mirror’s underlying thread of technological dread. Great soundtrack too.
Black Panther
The hype was real. A vehicle for propelling ahead the MCU, but also a visually striking and clever extravaganza.
Call Me By Your Name
Such a lush, emotional, honest love story. It left Lindsay and I both very tingly afterward. It also made me want to move to Italy immediately.
First Man
A straight procedural with an ending we all know — Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon — that was somehow riveting, thrusting us right into these claustrophobic and disorienting compartments. Damien Chazelle is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors.
Girl
Our favourite film by far at this year’s TIFF, Girl was an intense examination of puberty, transition, and obsession. It was also a masterclass in performance by a first-time actor.
I, Tonya
Last year we watched an HBO miniseries that made us feel sorry for the Unabomber. This year we watched a movie that made us feel sad for Tonya Harding. Really good use of the present-day interview method, and some absolutely staggering performances from Margot Robbie and especially Allison Janney.
The Kindergarten Teacher
Still on the topic of obsession, Maggie Gyllenhaal nailed it in this small, quiet film about a teacher fascinated by the innate talent of a student, with threads of regret, maternalism, and ennui running throughout.
The Post
Again, no surprises with the story here, but gets bonus points for being extra-relevant in a time when the press is under direct attack by the sort of politicians who recognize it as a potent defense against totalitarianism.
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Granted, we haven’t watched The Deuce season 2, Handmaids Tale season 2, or Mr. Robot season 3, nor any of Atlanta, Sharp Objects, Better Call Saul, or The Americans, and we barely started Barry.
Big Mouth
Maybe the best analysis of puberty, combined with the most LOL-worthy moments of any show I watched this year. Very extreme at times, but always kind of sweet and silly in the end.
Billions
Pulpy and over the top, but the pivot into an attack on Trump-style capitalism and cronyism is an interesting one. And anything with that cast, pulpy or otherwise, is worth watching.
The Good Place
Cleverly hilarious, but also a thoughtful examination of philosophy, humanity, good vs. evil, merit, attraction, the idea of soulmates, Ted Danson dancing, and Janets.
Homecoming
We watched the first four episodes of this at TIFF and got hooked on the story and Sam Esmail’s style. (So many staircases!) We signed up for Amazon Prime largely so we could finish watching the season when it came out.
Killing Eve
We just started watching this while on Christmas vacation. The characters, the dialog, the fashion, the style, the locales…we were captivated right from the get-go. Sandra Oh’s a national treasure.
Last Week Tonight
Consistently the funniest and most insightful show on TV.
Making A Murderer
Somehow I was just as sucked into season two as season one, even though nothing really happened. I figure it was force-of-nature Kathleen Zellner.
Silicon Valley
Still and always, a bundle of huge, uncomfortable laughs mixed in with tech/business stuff that hits a little too close to home sometimes. Jared is straight-up one of my favourite characters on television.
Wild Wild Country
An absolutely bonkers tale of a cult taking over a mass of land in Oregon, the townspeople who fight back (but who don’t come off nearly as well as they think they do) and a power-hungry second-in-command who sends the whole thing spinning off the rails. High, weird drama.
Wormwood
An blend of documentary and recreation of events stemming from CIA experiments with LSD in the 1950s. I don’t usually love it when shows blend the two styles but it worked here. Technically this aired in December last year but I didn’t see it until 2018, so.
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I definitely did better this year, reading seven books, vs. three last year (and none at all the year before). Listed in the order in which I read them.
Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded by Simon Winchester
I’ve had a lifelong curiosity about massive disasters, so I picked this up at a used bookstore in Halifax last Christmas and read it in January. Can’t say it was a masterpiece but I learned a lot.
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
An impulse buy from Book City, I read this on one trip to Ottawa and back and felt better-armed for having done. It’s helpful and instructive to recognize the warning signs of encroaching tyranny — it’s not some well-marked monolith that appears suddenly — in these times. I’ve read too much about the rise of fascism in the 1930s to feel at ease right now.
October by China Miéville
It took me over a year to read this — I kept pausing to read other books — as it’s so dense, despite Miéville’s narrative skill. I can say this: it’s as gripping as the tale of ten months of hundred-year-old Russian political intrigue can be made to be.
Disrupted by Dan Lyons
The story of a late-career writer who got wrapped up in the latest tech boom (and called bullshit on the whole thing) this book reminded me of my own experience — albeit as a much younger employee — in the dot-com boom 18 years ago.
Child Of God by Cormac McCarthy
God, Cormac MCarthy books are bleak. But God, do I ever love them.
Around The World In 80 Wines by Mike Veseth
This was a gift from Lindsay that made me want to quit my job and become a wine + travel writer. I learned a bunch too, like why a lot of famous Port producers have British names.
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
Any Americans who are actually concerned about the safety, soundness, and good functioning of their country and government shouldn’t read this book. Or, you know, maybe they should.
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Man, we ate well this year, but surprisingly more so abroad than in Toronto.
Toqué, Montreal
One of the best tasting menus I’ve ever experienced, and maybe the best wine pairings too — there’s a reason why Toqué is one of the best restaurants in Canada.
Taste at Rustic, Dublin
One of a pile of amazing meals we had in Dublin, this Japanese-influenced place followed a visit to a lovely wine bar, and came out of nowhere with sticky pork and chicken karage and Wagyu beef and the like. There was also a cocktail called the Three Sisters so good I ordered it twice.
Chapter One, Dublin
We ducked into this Michelin-starred restaurant for lunch, and had one of the meals of our lives. The food was stellar, the wine pairings immaculate, and the service impeccable to the point of being absurd.
Maison Publique, Montreal
In what was effectively our goodbye to Montreal and Lindsay’s old neighbourhood, we made our final trip to this favourite restaurant. They sent us off with a bang, top bottles of Canadian wine, and ice cream with sparklers.
Alexander, San Francisco
After a conference in San Francisco I had a solo meal at the chef’s bar at Alexander’s in San Francisco. The kitchen kept sending over fun little treats like Hamachi and scallop crudo, the steak was phenomenal, and the Sommelier led me down more than a few intriguing paths.
Treadwell, Niagara on the Lake
On a quick jaunt down to Niagara I introduced Lindsay to this place, my favourite in the town. It was a spectacular meal; we had such trouble deciding between dishes we ordered extras, and my pork dish was mind-blowing.
M’eat, Toronto
A new addition to our neighbourhood this year, this place uses an entire animal at a time. They also, we learned on our first visit, prepare it perfectly: our steak was outrageous. So were the duck tataki, beef carpaccio, venison tartare…and on it went.
Taiko, Amsterdam
We spent a good chunk of our brief time in Amsterdam this year at this long, luxurious, Asian-inspired meal. There was a dish called a cappuccino of cepes (aka porcini mushrooms) that was absolutely otherworldly.
Ekstedt, Stockholm
The first Michelin-starred stop on our Scandinavian trip started with diced reindeer heart boiled in just-melted butter and poured into a taco, and it only got better from there. The hay-flamed beef was one of the best bites of anything I’ve ever had. All the wines were impeccable. Astonishing.
SK Mat, Gothenburg
After traveling west to Gothenburg we had a full eight-course tasting menu for Lindsay’s birthday, along with her dear friend Tess, at another Michelin-starred joint. We had the premium wine pairings too, obviously, so by the end of the meal things were a bit hazy, but I remember a particularly good Grenache Blanc.
Honourable mentions: a visit to Jacobs & Co. where I tried a 1929 Don PX; 400 Coups in Montreal where our adventurous wine orders led to the sommelier pouring us several bizarre digestifs; our second-to-last visit to Maison Publique in Montreal with Sara & Mark; an unreal breakfast at Meet Me In The Morning in Dublin; and Lindsay’s first visit to Patria.
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Listed in chronological order. To the great surprise of no one who knows me, my list was dominated by sours, porters, and stouts.
Le Trou du Diable Le Coq
Boxcar Social’s bottle list is always good for a few finds, and I’d somehow never tried this TDD sour before. Among all the other great beers we tried that night, this one stood out.
Burdock Auko
Lake Inez’s bottle list is similarly impressive, and this sour aged in cab franc barrels blew us away during an equally impressive LI meal, offsetting the spicy dishes perfectly.
Dieu du Ciel Péché Termopilas
As with last year, one of the best beers I drank all year came from a little grocery store in Montreal, in the annual Péché Mortel variety pack. This was like a lighter, more subtle version of the standard Péché, and almost as perfect.
Thornbridge Brewery Cocoa Wonderland
I tried this near-perfect porter whilst sitting in a little booth at Against The Grain in Dublin, noshing and playing board games with Lindsay after a museum adventure.
Oast House Toasted Walnut Bourbon Porter
I’ve always had a fondness for Oast House’s browns and porters, but this one was killer. The toastiness tamped down the bitterness of the walnuts which usually turns me off, and the bourbon barrels did the rest.
Blood Brothers Black Hand
I was kind of surprised I’d ever had this one before given how much I love Blood Brothers, but I guess maybe I’d tried all their other stouts while somehow missing this one? Regardless, this one’s an amazing example of a simple yet well-executed stout.
Rodenbach Caractère Rouge
Back on the topic of amazing bottle lists, we have The Wren and their deep, wide list. Lindsay and I often share bottles so we can sample more, and one of the best of the year was this special variant of her favourite, Rodenbach.
Gueuzerie Tilquin Stout Rullquin
And now, the ultimate beer list: at Akkurat in Stockholm they have a bottle list the size of a phone book. We delved deeply, and found an aged vintage of the original Gueuze Tilquin, but because it’s been one of my favourite beers for many years, I didn’t include it here. But almost as good was this sour stout collaboration between Tilquin and La Rulle.
AleSmith Hawaiian Speedway
Having travelled across Sweden to Gothenburg, we found ourselves at a cool little spot eating delicious doughy pizzas and picking beers off what might have been the best pound-for-pound draft list I’ve ever seen. This tropical stout was just the best of an amazing lineup I sampled over two days.
Four Winds Pomona
The list ends where the list began: the Boxcar Social Summerhill bottle list. Lindsay and I grabbed this big bottle of sour while we waited for some Yeah Yeahs pizza to come sliding through the wall. It was gorgeous.
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Cover photo by David Stillman, used under Creative Commons license
Christ, I’m full. What a weekend of eating.
First, on Thursday, we met Mike & Heather at Lake Inez. They’d never been; we had maybe our best meal there ever — which is saying something. We shared deviled eggs, miso-molasses pork skewers, teriyaki beef tartare, fried yukon gold potatoes w/ bonito+nori+okonomi, gyoza sausage roll, sancho pork side ribs, and several amazing bottles of beer.
Friday, after work, we had drinks at the Summerhill Boxcar, brought home Yeah Yeahs pizza, and re-watched the first few episodes of House of Cards.
On Saturday we ended up eating a lot of leftovers and doing stuff around the loft as it was so shite outside, but did order some bbq from Greenwood Smokehouse and watched Sour Grapes (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a documentary about this con man who duped people into buying millions of dollars worth of fine wine.
On Sunday we got up early to have breakfast at Bonjour Brioche, then worked at our local Boxcar for five hours, walked over to White Lily for some lunch, and came home to watch 22 July (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Not the lightest way to end a weekend, one might say.
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Cover photo by 3dom, used under Creative Commons license
Such a big part of the reason why my movie addiction has died down is both the quality and volume of TV. HBO made it hard enough, but with Netflix pumping out new content at an alarming rate (and we just signed up for Amazon Prime video) we can’t keep up. We just finished Making A Murder season 2, Fargo season 3, and Big Mouth season 2. We’re in the midst of The Good Place season 3 and Homecoming season 1. We haven’t even started The Deuce season…uh, 2 or Handmaid’s Tale season 2, and we essentially abandoned Maniac, Mr. Robot, Ozark, and Altered Carbon at various points. To say nothing of all the other shows we’ve been told we should be watching.
Mercy, television.
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Cover photo from Joshua Isard’s Medium article
It’s been a weird week. I was so sick that I didn’t go to work Monday. I probably shouldn’t have gone Tuesday either but I had a pile of meetings, and I really wanted to see Lindsay speak at an Akimbo event at 401 Richmond that night. I’m so glad I did — her presentation was so on, and it was really interesting to learn more about digital curation — but that plus dinner pretty much did me in.
Dinner, our last together for a week and a half, was at Byblos, which we loved our last time out, though it might have been a bit rich for 10pm:
By the time I got home I was almost comatose, and my body regressed into a state of uberSick. I spent Wednesday in bed, and most of Thursday as well. Then Friday morning, as I was feeling better and getting ready for work, I pulled a muscle in my back. I sometimes strain my back when I stay in bed too long — like, say, when I’m sick — but it’s pretty rare that I actually hurt it like this. I spent Friday hobbling around work like an old man and then came home.
My back’s slowly getting better, as I’ve been trying to mix in some relaxation with intense work catch-up. During my downtime I’ve been watching the winter Olympics and catching up on TV shows and movies I know Lindsay wouldn’t care to see.
I knew Fargo: Season 2 (imdb | rotten tomatoes) featured completely different actors from season 1, but I didn’t know the thread of connection among two of the characters. Just as quirky and violent (moreso, probably) as the first season. Season 3: get in my Netflix queue!
I’d been told Thor: Ragnarok (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was a ton of fun, but from the trailers I couldn’t figure out what it was. It seemed to be about arena fighting but, y’know…Ragnarok. Norse Armageddon. Did not compute. Anyway, it makes sense now, and I laughed all the way through it. Thor’s such an absurd character that full-on humour was a great way to take things.
Speaking of Armageddon, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on what Brawl In Cell Block 99 (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was going to be: pretty much what it said on the tin. I just didn’t expect…that. So much dry savagery. I really wish I’d seen it with a Midnight Madness audience at TIFF. That would have been something.
Another superhero movie that took a new tack, one I also liked, was Spider-Man: Homecoming (imdb | rotten tomatoes). A reboot of the reboot of the…original reboot, I guess, this one played for a generation that knew the Marvel movies, not the comics, and it worked nicely. Different pace, and much funnier than the Andrew Garfield version. (Also: no sooner do I finish watching Fargo than Mike Milligan shows up in Spider-Man.)
Between all of this, and a lot of work, I finished reading my uncle Jim’s book A Short History of the American Revolution (amazon). Back in November when I was in Philadelphia for work, I had a chance to tour the new Museum of the American Revolution. I was speaking there that night (on a totally unrelated topic…we just happened to be using the venue) and did a little research about my family’s history to share during my speech. I’d forgotten about this since I first read it years ago, but Jim summarized it himself in the book:
Today farmers who wrestle a living from the thin soil of Cumberland County in Nova Scotia trace their ancestors to New York State and the exodus when the British finally left the United States.
Of course, ancestry.ca didn’t exist when Jim wrote this book, so I was able to dig a little deeper into history. That digging, and hearing the museum’s director speak about misconceptions and hard truths about the revolution, sparked an interest to re-read Jim’s book, and re-educate myself about the war. There’s so much myth and legend built up around the revolution — being at the museum and re-reading the book reminded me how different the reality was. Also interesting: I’d never connected the dots before between the Cornwallis who famously surrendered at Yorktown to the Cornwallis famous — and more recently, infamous — in Halifax. The former was, I believe, the latter’s nephew.
I still have crazy amounts of work to do today, and my back’s definitely not back to normal yet, so the weekend continues to be weird. Seriously, all I want is a quiet week.
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Cover photo by j.s. clark, used under Creative Commons license
