Fool's Gold Coast

Oh, Canada

I've returned from my sojourn through Atlantic Canada. I took pictures. Let's look at some of them.

Nova Scotia


Wrought iron entrance to the Public Gardens in Halifax.

Public Gardens bandstand, behind which I ate some really excellent ice cream.

The Halifax Citadel, a military fortification built in the 19th century to defend the harbor against Americans and other nuisances. On the right, you see the silhouette of a fake soldier, in a kilt, fake-guarding the entrance. Canada is big on staffing its historical sites with college students in period garb.

Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove.

Trio of waterfront churches in Mahone Bay (behind all those boats, cars, and people).

Lunenburg.

In front of the Bluenose II, a replica (currently being restored) of a much beloved Lunenburg fishing vessel famed for its speed and prowess. The image of the original is on the back of the Canadian dime, which is a lot less lame than what's on the back of the nickel (a beaver).

A piece of Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal. Built in 1702 by the French, the earthwork fortification became the most fought-over piece of land in Canadian history on account of because the British and French kept arguing over who got to keep Canada. Possession of the fort changed hands seven times.

Fairy on the ferry to New Brunswick.

New Brunswick


Primeval scene at Fundy National Park.

Dickson Falls, Fundy National Park.

Hopewell Rocks at low tide. At high tide, the ocean covers all but the trees.

Prince Edward Island


The room in Charlottetown's Province House where the Fathers of Confederation first talked about uniting the provinces. Incidentally, Charlottetown is where I intend to move when Michelle Bachmann wins the presidency.

Green Gables house in Cavendish, y'all.

Trying not to be disgusted by the carnage at the New Glasgow lobster supper.

ELSEWHERE:
My short review of Maximum Verbosity's Camelot Is Crumbling: An Arthurian Nightmare is in the current issue of the Chicago Reader.

Due North

Early tomorrow morning, Kito and I leave for our tour through Atlantic Canada--with stops in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. I finished Anne of Green Gables just in time. Thanks a lot for not warning me that Matthew Cuthbert dies in the end. I cried on the el.

At any rate, I'll be gone 'til September 11 and will resume posting when I return. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a scene from the hard-hitting Canadian documentary series, Degrassi: The Next Generation.

Have a lovely week and I'll see you soon.

BD Wrong

Last night before bed, I logged onto Twitter. My homepage displayed a parade of tweets from musical theater composer Jason Robert Brown. This is a common occurrence for we Twitter followers of Jason Robert Brown. It wouldn't be so bad if he had anything interesting to say, but 1.) since when does anyone have anything interesting to say on Twitter? and 2.) Jason Robert Brown pretty much only retweets compliments from fans--stuff along the lines of, "Just saw PARADE! @MrJasonRBrown is a genius!!!" and ".@MrJasonRBrown = greatest thing to happen to ears since electric trimmers" and "I would like to accept @MrJasonRBrown as my personal lord and savior!"

And so, right after hitting unfollow so that I could start to minimize what a certain songwriter once called "All the Wasted Time," I tweeted, "Jason Robert Brown's Twitter feed is just retweets of people praising Jason Robert Brown. I find this unseemly."

Shortly thereafter, Jason Robert Brown himself retweeted my remark, adding that in addition to compliments his feed sometimes contains complaints like mine. I appreciated this slightly self-deprecating response, for it made me think that perhaps the fellow isn't as vainglorious as his Twitter feed would suggest (although the speed with which it appeared did nothing to dispel my suspicion that Jason Robert Brown spends every spare moment trawling the Internet for mentions of his name).

I did not much care, however, for the response of actor BD Wong, who tweeted this: "@zeekaytee, if you'd opened your soul to make something you hoped was beautiful, and people confirmed it was, you'd retweet."

If BD Wong says I'd turn boastful after having received confirmation of the beauty of the fruits of my opened soul, I'm not going to argue with him. But that doesn't make repeating other people's praise of you to all and sundry any less tacky, and I don't think even Mariska Hargitay could convince me otherwise.

ELSEWHERE:
My review of Mortar Theatre Company's Corazón de Manzana is in this week's Time Out Chicago.