Last night, we attended the Fleet and Garrison Ball, held down at the Wardroom (traditionally, the naval officers' mess) at Stadacona - CFB Halifax. Quite a nice evening, and a big event - over 600 people in attendance, from the Army, Navy and the RCMP (who were invited as special guests this year).
It was the first time I'd been to an event at the Wardroom in over ten years, and it looked great, as they've done a lot of renovations in the interim. We headed over at about 6.30 pm for drinks, and to sample the seafood hors d'oeuvres bar. The 78th Highlanders from the Citadel were also on hand to give a display and play before dinner was announced. They stood at the Wardroom entrance earlier in the evening, as an honour guard:
We went in to dinner at 7.30 and had a table with several of A.'s colleagues from his unit. As usual, the military chefs outdid themselves and the meal was excellent. There was pear and cambozola salad to start, followed by roast asparagus soup with smoked salmon, apple cider sorbet, chicken stuffed with spinach and chèvre, and finally, chocolate and pistachio pâté for dessert. Had a very good bottle of Pinot Gris also.
Afterwards, there was lots of dancing, with three different ballrooms on the go - one with big-band/swing-type music, one with traditional Maritime music, and one with a DJ. There were about six different bars open around the building, with the best being The Bridge, on the top floor of the main residential tower. It has a terrace and a fantastic view of the city, and was serving very good martinis all evening.
All in all, a fine evening - I do love the opportunity to get dressed up from time to time.
Jeez, you really can find anything on YouTube, can't you? Earlier, I was watching this year's performance clips from the ever-glorious Eurovision Song Contest, and just for a lark, I did a search for Paul Oscar, the 1997 entry from Iceland. And lo! I found it!
Oscar was the best Eurovision act of recent years, in my opinion, and the song, "Minn hinsti dans", is a pretentious yet utterly compelling snippet of Eurodisco goodness. He didn't score all that well, but I reckon he was too good for the stuffy Eurovision jury (this was in the days before the general public could call in to vote!). And I remember thinking the live audience were rather scandalised by his avant performance, and all that PVC.
You can watch the clip - which was recorded from German telly - here (but you'll need to go about 1:15 into the clip, to skip over the 'educational' introduction to Icelandic culture shown beforehand).
Since the 1980s, British history has fallen pretty steadily out of vogue in North American universities. The only strand of it which remains in any sort of demand is imperial and postcolonial studies - and it's easy to see why. The parallels between the decline of the British Empire, and our current global situation, are there for all to see. And on occasion, I find them slightly spooky.
The first time I was struck by this was when the 'global war on terror' was declared in the wake of September 11th. All that rhetoric of bringing freedom and democracy to the benighted Islamic nations of the world...I'd heard it all before, during my doctoral research on British missionaries in India a century ago. The only difference? Substitute 'freedom and democracy' with 'Christianity and civilisation'.
I had another of those odd, rising-of-the-hackles moments again this morning, while listening to today's installment of This Sceptred Isle. It was reviewing the state of the Empire at the turn of the 20th century, and the Pyrrhic aftermath of the Boer War - a war which Britain won, but which severely damaged its prestige and revealed the growing decay within. When the Liberal politician Joseph Chamberlain (the father of 'peace in our time' Neville) was quoted from this 1902 speech, I shivered a little:
We are the most hated nation of the world, and also the best loved. We have the feeling, unfortunately, that we have to count upon ourselves alone, and I say, therefore, it is the duty of British statesmen, and it is the duty of the British people, to count upon themselves alone, as their ancestors did. I say alone, yes, in splendid isolation, surrounded by our kinfolk.
Across the road from our house (well, across the Rotary, to be precise) is the Armview Restaurant and Lounge.It's what would now be termed a diner, and has been in business since at least the 1950s. And up until a month or two ago, it looked every bit its age - with a faded old sign out front, and an interior that last saw decoration in the 1970s, by the looks of things. Needless to say, we'd never eaten there, and had no plans to do so.Just after Christmas, I was passing one day and noticed all the windows papered over. I figured they'd gone out of business at long last, but no - a small sign on the door announced they were temporarily closed for renovation. Well, a few weeks ago they re-opened, and I was astonished to see it had become something of a model of retro chic. So this morning (it being a holiday and all), A. and I decided to pop over for breakfast and check it out.The re-designed interior is really very nice. It's gone from tired and dated to retro-fabulous. The've kept all the original booths, counter, panelling and vinyl flooring, and added new upholstery, light fittings and blinds, and a fresh lick of paint. One wall has even been done up with a display of old photos of the restaurant, old menus, vintage food packaging and advertising, etc. On the other side of the restaurant is the 'lounge' part, with an original Sixties bar and lots of small tables (and indeed, the original sign out front advertises cocktails). At the very back (before you go thinking the place is a bit too shiny and cool) there's a little room with the obligatory VLTs. Heh.But on to the most important bit - the food. Perfectly nice and very cheap. The coffee is good, and comes in a bottomless cup. Their basic bacon'n'eggs breakfast costs a paltry $4. I had the pancakes, which were fluffy and tasty, also at $4. A. of course had the mega-breakfast, with three eggs, a pile of bacon, ham and sausages, toast, potatoes, etc. and that cost $7. I'll need to go back again someday at lunchtime and check out the specials. But in the interim, I think we'll be rolling out of bed some Sundays, grabbing the newspapers, and going over the road for the morning, to linger over breakfast at the Armview. I have a feeling it may only be a matter of time before some hack from The Coast shows up, re-christens it as a mecca of vintage coolness, and sparks a small stampede of downtown hipsters who will displace the locals and regulars.
It's the long weekend, and man, have we got lots to keep us busy. Which is just as well, as the forecasted showery weather will probably put the kybosh on my plans to get out of the city for a little jaunt somewhere. Bleh.
Oh well. With the risk of frost (hopefully) over now, the garden is calling. The damp weather is pretty good for it, as it means less watering-in for the new tender plants and bulbs I've received this week. Yesterday, we took delivery of both the order I placed with my mother-in-law's garden club, and my second order with Vesey's. Via my MIL, I got root stock for astilbes, irises, and some beautiful dark-red daylilies. And from Vesey's, I got bulbs for lilies-of-the-valley, blue dahlias, and a pinkish calla lily. I also couldn't resist splurging on this gorgeous David Austin rosebush, 'The Generous Gardener':
In the midst of all this planting-out, A. is also planning to re-lay the brick path running between the driveway and deck. It's sunken at one end and water pools on it when it rains, so the whole thing needs to be lifted, re-laid on a bed of gravel, and a drain put in.
Oh yeah, and I need to finish painting the downstairs bedroom this weekend too - I started on it earlier this evening. Whew. Tired just thinking about it all.
It's Encaenia (i.e. graduation day) at King's today. I was sitting in my office working when I heard a bagpiper outside. At this time of year, that only means one thing - that the piper is leading the procession of graduands from King's down to the Anglican cathedral in the city centre. Watched the procession from my office window. Happy memories...good times.
It's Census Day in Canada today. This is the first time I've done the census in my own household. Sat out on the deck last night, enjoying the balmy weather, and filling in the forms.For the first time ever, the 2006 census includes a question asking the permission of respondents to have their information publicly released in 92 years' time. As a historian, I can only hope that as many people as possible answer 'yes'. The census is a vitally important source of information for historians and genealogists. So important, in fact, that I'm not sure we should even be asking people's permission to release their personal information nearly a century down the road - it should be taken as a given. I don't think we have the right to deny this information to future generations.Apparently, the issue of permission was raised in the 1990s, when the 1906 census was first made available to the public. Given that privacy issues have become so important in recent years, I can see why people made a fuss about it. But frankly, I don't think it matters in this case. In 2098, when this census is due to be released, all of us respondents will be long dead - and it's vitally important that the information we record be publicly available.I suspect that the permission question in the 2006 census will provide a fruitful research topic for future historians. Its inclusion speaks volumes about our current concern with privacy issues.
Got around to watching Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason last night. It was good for a few laffs, and of course the sight of Colin Firth (sporting immaculate suit and with furrowed brow) is generally always welcome. I was quite astonished by Renee Zellweger's physical transformation in that film, though. I was one of those people very annoyed by the media's endless comments around the first Bridget Jones movie, about how RZ had "piled on the pounds", when in fact she'd gone from Hollywood stick insect to a mere size 10. But this time around, she was much bigger - or maybe the clothes were just more revealing (indeed, the true star of the film is not Ms. Zellweger herself, but rather her ample bosoms, which she presumably grew specially for the movie - heh). Still, it's always refreshing to see more normal female body types on the screen, so I'm not complaining.Anyway, the storyline was a lot of preposterous twaddle (Bridget's stint in a Thai jail was especially ridiculous) but had some mindless fun, and is not, of course, intended to be taken very seriously. It's impossible not to like a protagonist who finishes her story with such sage philosophies as: "l truly believe that happiness is possible...even when you're 33 and have a bottom the size of two bowling balls."
My mother came down from CB for the weekend, which was very nice. She arrived Friday at lunchtime, and we saw her off at lunchtime today.
Got in some shopping and strolling, and a good pre-Mother's Day evening out last night. We all went off to Deco for dinner, then to the Neptune for the last show of the year, Evita. It was pretty well-done, though not the best Neptune musical I've seen. The actress playing Evita was excellent, I thought. I wasn't so sure about the rest of the cast, though, and the set seemed a bit cramped. The Neptune usually does a superb job of scaling down enormous musical sets to fit their modest stage, but weren't quite as successful this time.
Still, we all enjoyed it. A bit nostalgic for me as well, as Evita was the first musical I ever saw. My grandmother took me to see it at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto when I was ten. Afterwards, we went to (of all places) Honest Ed's where I bought the soundtrack on vinyl. I still have it - really must get myself a working turntable one of these days.
Just in from the INXS show at the Metro Centre, and it was pretty good. I wasn't blown away or anything (wasn't expecting to be), but it was a good solid show. I'd forgotten how many INXS songs I knew - and they've stood the test of time pretty well, in my opinion.
All the hits covered - "Need You Tonight", "Suicide Blonde", "What You Need", "Devil Inside", "New Sensation", "Never Tear Us Apart" (my personal favourite)...etc. etc. And the new stuff stood up very well - "Pretty Vegas" in particular sounded excellent.
JD Fortune did not disappoint the hometown crowd. Somebody threw a Nova Scotia flag onstage, which he used as a prop all evening. And at one point, he changed into a t-shirt which read 'Bluenoser'. Needless to say, the crowd howled at his every move. It was quite amazing - I didn't watch "Rock Star: INXS" at all when it was on TV last summer, so I didn't really get the whole JD thing. He's quite the character. But I'm not sure he's really to my taste. He's certainly a good-looking, sexy guy, but he tries a bit too hard, in my opinion. He's rather keen on suggestive dancing, and at one point during the show, he did some very rude things to his microphone stand. I dunno - some women would probably find that hot, but I just laughed and felt a bit embarrassed for him. ;-)
Ultimately, I did find myself thinking wistfully of Michael Hutchence throughout the show. I so wished I'd had the chance to see him perform before he died. JD turns in a respectable performance, and has doubtless won INXS legions of new fans. But Michael can never be replaced.
This Sceptred Isle, the BBC Radio 4 series on the history of the British Empire, is back on the airwaves after a short hiatus. It's being broadcast in three series of 30 parts each, and the final series started yesterday. We're now up to the later nineteenth century, high Victoriana and that ever-vexing 'Irish Question'. Solid, well-written, enjoyable stuff.
I must say, I quite enjoy the idea of taking a short break out of my day to listen to a radio programme - and an educative programme at that. It seems a pleasantly eccentric thing to do.
What a beaut! If you click on the picture above, you'll see it full-size.
That sure harbinger of spring in Canada, the 'Roll Up the Rim to Win' contest, is over for another year. And despite the squillions of prizes on offer, and the fact that I faithfully patronise Tim Horton's every weekday morning for coffee and Timbits, this year I won not so much as a free doughnut.Feh.
Whew. I've had a crazy couple of days. But my weekend in Toronto was pretty good. Relations all well, and it was good to see them. Plus, the weather was amazing - sunny, blue skies and mild every day - got up to 20 degrees on Monday! V. depressing to return to greyness and chilly drizzle in Halifax.Went to the Lord of the Rings show on Saturday afternoon with my two aunts, M. and K., and my cousin S. Overall, I liked it a lot. The acting was all quite good (Michael Therriault gave an outstanding turn as Gollum - couldn't quite believe it was the same man I watched play Tommy Douglas on television earlier this year). The set is amazing. I've been going to see musical theatre for over 20 years, and I thought LOTR was probably the most visually impressive show I've ever seen - really clever use of lighting, puppetry, and some fairly simple but nonetheless highly effective props. The much-vaunted multi-level stage lived up to expectations. Without giving anything away, I will say that the closing scene of the first act is spectacular, and quite the sensory experience! I quite enjoyed the music as well. I can see now why the producers were keen that the show not be labelled a 'musical' - it's actually a play with music. There were no more than 3-4 songs per act, and for the most part, the music was used judiciously. There is, of course, notable use of music in the books (whether for good or for ill - I think it's charming, but a lot of people find Tolkien's tunes rather cringey). I must admit I was a little fearful of the musical aspect (the minute I saw a dancing hobbit giving me "jazz hands", I'd have been out of there), but it turned out pretty well.I don't want to give the impression that the show is problem-free, though. The critics were definitely right about one thing - the storyline is weak. There is way too much material squeezed into what is already a 3.5 hour show. Of course, being extremely familiar with the story already, I was able to follow it pretty well because I could fill in the gaps. But for someone like my cousin S., who has neither seen the films nor read the books, it was confusing. She had to read the programme synopses during the intermissions, to figure out exactly what was going on. And if this show is to move to London and/or New York eventually and have a long run, that is a major problem. All the good acting, fun music, and dazzling visuals in the world won't continue to put bums on seats if the storyline is not sound. But I'm not sure how they are going to fix the problem, short of a major re-write or extending the length of the production - neither of which are viable possibilities, I'm sure.In the end, I think this show is an amazing achievement. I found it very entertaining and enjoyed it very much, and thought the vitriol of some of the reviewers was undeserved (though not unexpected - critics hate these kind of shows anyway). And it's incredible that, with so much material, the show is as coherent as it is. But it's not quite all there. Afterwards, I found myself wondering if people will still be going to see this show in 10-20 years, as they continue to do with Les Miserables and the like. Unless there are big changes, I have my doubts.
