Reminder: See you all on Friday
plus, some design dilemmas
A reminder that this is coming up. Here’s a different, more traditional ad that I created for the occasion alongside the B&W one, that I ended up not using. Russell’s new novel Self Care is about an incel and a highly online fourth-wave feminist ending up together to the chagrin of their respective ideological communities. I think! I might ask him about it.
This is the venue, if you’ve never been. There’s a bar with some beverage and snack options to the right of the second picture, just outside the frame.
Seating will be theatre-style, not the cafe-style. It’s an experiment. I have no idea how many people will show up. Do I need a mike? What do I put on as the intro and outro playlist? It may rain!, so plan accordingly. There are several parking lots around, including a Green P on Dovercourt. Ossington bus will get you to College from Line 1 and from downtown streetcars.
I have been postering last week which had a strangely rejuvenating effect. When was the last time I’ve considered postering as an activity to be done? Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra was playing the Tranzac Club, and indie opera was booming in Toronto, and social media meant Facebook.
Before I ended up creating this poster, I played with some other designs… If you dig deep into Canva, especially in the unlikely corners such as the T-Shirt design, you’ll find some unexpected gems.
This was one of the options that I considered: a falling man. (What’s the origin of this one, I wonder.)
I found one template with Medusa in the background, but realized the joke would be too elaborate and I just want to give people the event information.
Meanwhile, Jacob Savage gave an interview to the Republic of Letters (another fine Substack publication) and immediately mentioned Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection, which I got hold of and finished in two afternoons. It’s a fascinating book on the-way-young-North-Americans-live-now, skillfully incorporating internet into literature, but the Georges Bataille-an short story in the middle would not have been, I don’t think, encouraged in a straight, majority ethnic male. (The monstrous fantasy is told by a practically-virgin, video games-addled Asian-American gay twink who’s been bullied in school, based on his race, sexuality and dweebness/scholarly success…) The book is also, somehow, woke too, as much as it attacks the idententitarianism and the online cancel culture and the millennial uber-politicizing. Has anyone read it? If so, we can talk about it on Friday.
Bring your questions and more-a-comment-than-a-question musings, and see you end of the week.