Poster: Barren Ground Caribou Returning in 2026

Barren Ground Caribou by Joyce Wieland (1978)

As the poster says....

The City of Toronto Economic Development and Culture Division is collaborating with the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art to bring Barren Ground Caribou, the monumental public artwork by Joyce Wieland, out from behind glass! This remarkable textile will feature prominently in a celebration of the radical art-making of one of Canada's most influential and trail-blazing artists. Heart On is an ambitious retrospective exhibition of the works of Joyce Wieland that will travel between the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and the Art Gallery of Ontario throughout 2025.

Ms Wieland's quilt was showcased at the Toronto Transit Commission's "Spadina" subway station, more specifically, its Kendal Avenue entrance.

When I use that entrance I always at least give Barren Ground Caribou a glance. It's hard to miss the artwork due to its immense profile.

The glass display case looks so empty now. It is.

Micro Poem: Cardigans of Cordite

The human race knows not what it strives for

it seeks guidance but ignores reality

cowering blithely in waste its ultimate fate.

___

2025

Simon St. Laurent

NHL Gum Card: Rene Robert — Buffalo Sabres

During my preteen years, like many young men, the National Hockey League (NHL) was the most important thing. Ice hockey ruled our worlds, its players our sports heroes. O-Pee-Chee marketed player trading cards, and these would appear in our corner stores. For ten cents, one got a few cards and a stick of 'gum'. The convenience store on the "South Side" of CFB Borden was my go-to place for these little packets of goodness — yes, I actually liked that gum.

The above card is from the 1972 - 1973 season.

While the speedily-talented winger wore four different team uniforms, including that of the Toronto Maple Leafs, during his NHL career, René Robert (1948 - 2021) hit his peak when he played for the Buffalo Sabres. With "French Connection" teammates Gilbert Perreault and Richard Martin, he was a playmaking and scoring force, especially during the NHL's 1974/75 season when the Sabres eliminated my beloved Habs (Montreal Canadiens) from further playoff participation.

Screen Capture: Working in Adobe Lightroom

Working the ropes, pullies, pots, and sliders... but not to the point of over-processing the photo. At least that's my aim as I generally don't like photographs with colours too enhanced.

Like many photographers of my age, I started in a darkroom processing and manipulating photographic paper through development times, and 'dodging' and 'burning'. Wonderful tools like Lightroom make it almost too easy. (Those Cheezies look really orange! But really good!)

Will & Mist: Happy New Year 2025!

"A New Year's Resolution? I am perfect!"

Picturing: Steel Drummer in TTC Tunnel

When I use the TTC's "Spadina" tunnel to travel to my coffee destination, often there are musicians entertaining the system's patrons. Early this afternoon this gent was playing his steel drum... which reverberated nicely in that transit space.

Picturing: Shelley, Chris, and Linda at School

There were just those cool and fun kids back in Art & Design school. My God, looking at this picture now reminds me that I went to school with some pretty people — I'm guessing that's why I'm the one taking the photo.

Postscript: Sharp-eyed observers will be able to peg this pic as being taken in the mid-1980s.

Picturing: Me with Canon by the Lakeshore

A young me in the 1980s with my Canon AE-1 and a 28mm lens. That camera paid itself off many times over, courtesy of public relations and hospital photography. I loved that camera, and still do. Perhaps I should buy a roll or two of 35mm film and fire it off again....

LP: Bob & Doug McKenzie — Great White North

Bob & Doug McKenzie

— Great White North —

Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas

Anthem Records

1981

***

For those readers here who weren't around in the early 1980s, this LP (Long Playing) disc of vinyl sold many copies here in Canada, and a few beyond our borders. 

Bob & Doug McKenzie — Great White North was released in November of 1981, which is exactly when I snapped it up from the Sam's record bin, and it was a "Christmas album", especially so given its takeoff on the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Like many fans of Bob and Doug and their SCTV segments, I played Bob & Doug McKenzie many times. The first spin was all many of us needed to be convinced just how good it was as a piece of comedy gold all its own.

So, take off, eh? Pass me a stubby!

Postscript: At the time I was working at Molson Breweries, specifically the (now gone) bottling plant just off of Highway 400, in Barrie, Ontario. I was "Maintenance", and part of my job was to keep the fridges in the staff restaurant and executive lounge stocked with beer. So the record album really resonated with me, eh?

Bob: My brother Doug doesn't even know what 'resonated' means, eh?

Doug: I do too, eh?! Take off! Hoser!

Bob: Yeah, it's what happens to you when you inhale too much beer... in one gulp.

Doug: Geez. I know that feelin', eh?

Picturing: A Slushy Winter's Day in Toronto

Toronto today is relatively mild, certainly compared to yesterday's -10 degrees Celsius (14 Fahrenheit), with the current temperature hovering around 0 (32°F) — allowing for much more comfortable errands.

The above photo, taken at the intersection of Bloor and Spadina, and looking south, does capture a busy scene, but not the sound of slush.

Postscript: The CN Tower, in the distance, is indicating that the cloud ceiling is at about 1,200 feet.

A Forever Question: The Price of Admission

“Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question."

Sir. Why do the Toronto Maple Leafs even exist?

Picturing: Marble Steps at TTC Spadina Station

Just kidding, of course. Those are stone tiles covered in salt... salt-covered for obvious reasons, if one knows that Toronto is getting some winter weather. City streets are bare of snow, at least they are here in the "Annex" neighbourhood, but city and TTC crews have been throwing-down salt. It's -11 degrees Celsius (12 Fahrenheit) right now.

Picturing: TTC Finch West Subway Stn Southbound

Late afternoon on the 'southbound' Finch West subway platform: I'm still having fun testing my new Canon RF50mm lens. It's nice and fast: F-1.8 ... almost as fast as a TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) train when it's moving and up to speed. Which begs the question: Does the TTC's subway system have F-stops?

There be Leafs fans in this car!

Picturing: Spadina Subway Station North Entrance

While approaching the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) "Spadina" station's north entrance, I popped out my Canon mirrorless to test its new RF 50mm F1.8 STM lens. After getting home and doing some viewing and appraisal on the images I took, I was decidedly impressed.

Picturing: Two Canada Post Vehicles to the Rescue

A warm welcome to returning Canada Post workers... especially so given that they were ordered back to work during a legal strike. Two trucks came in the name of customer service!

Picturing: A TTC Subway Train Enters Bay Station

Lately I've been getting into street photography mode; a mode which often finds me shooting below the streets of this great city, Toronto.

Late this morning while doing an errand I popped through "Bay" station, as it was very close to my destination — I could just have easily walked there, actually. As one can see from the pic, this subway station doesn't have the most chromatic of tiling. By the way, there's a ghost station of a sort right below this: it's a training and marshalling platform, and one often rented by producers for their television and film productions, with the feature film Mimic (1997) being one (which helps explain director Guillermo del Toro's love for Toronto).

Click.

Picturing: A Bloor/Spadina Toronto Saturday Evening

At about 6:30 this evening I cracked off a couple dozen nighttime pics to test my new Canon 24mm 2.8 lens. By the way, that's the CN Tower in the distance at the extreme right side of the frame. I'm looking south-southeast. Bloor & Spadina is one busy intersection this time of the week. I love this city, especially "The Annex", my neighbourhood since the 1980s.

Picturing: Graveyard Shift Contact Sheet

Reopening my 'Graveyard Shift' files sent me back to the 1985, as I reviewed photos, memos, call sheets, and sketches related to that film's production. Affixed above is a partial contact sheet of photographs I took right before commencement of the 'graveyard set' shoot.

I was hired to design and build a... graveyard set. The studio was on George Street here in Toronto. (I also painted designs on 'flats' for a party scene.)

Graveyard Shift was released in the States as Central Park Drifter.

The bottom right photograph is of the late Tim Mogg, the talented special-makeup artist who went on to enjoy a prolific career.

Picturing: Modelling at Niagara Falls

Exploring: AMT USS Enterprise Spaceship Model Kit

Yesterday, while rummaging through my closet in search of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture tie-in novelization for my series on that picture's 45th anniversary release date, I uncovered an unopened plastic model kit indirectly related to the book I was looking for.

The price sticker, as I had already guessed without looking closely, was from "Leisure World". This would have been the store in downtown Toronto, as that (now gone) location was where I picked up a few things hobby related.

AMT's "U.S.S. Enterprise Space Ship Model Kit" was a popular item. Released a couple of months after Star Trek premiered in September of 1966, it went on to sell over 100,000 units in the show's first season alone. I came along a few years later and built more than one before I exited my teens.

What other morsels of goodness await me as I journey through some unexplored space?