Beautiful Feet

I met with Larry on the eve of the ASI/ISC 2016 Indexing Conference in Chicago, just before the conference’s official reception. Just like in his novels, my walk to our meeting place was blustery and foreboding, but the welcome I received from him and his lovely wife, Rose (whom I recognized instantly from one of her accessories as a fellow cat-lover), could not have been more reassuring. After warning him that I was not attempting to stalk him (since I was also writing a review of his second book for EAC’s Toronto Branch blog, BoldFace , and summarizing his keynote speech the next day for the ISC’s upcoming edition of The Bulletin newsletter), we sat down to talk business: that of writing and indexing and how the two connect. In the first book of the series, See Also Murder [1] , there had been mention of a magpie, so I started by asking him if that had been a total coincidence: indeed, it was only by fluke that he had used a species that is the mascot of the Indexing So...

The Greek roots for 'hologram' mean the whole/entire thing that is written/drawn. I've got two reviews about the whole message—what's important in life, that is. For many years on this blog, I have been singing the praises of Tapestry Opera (starting way back when it was still called Tapestry New Opera Works); they just never disappoint and readily accomplish what artistic director Michael Mori discussed last night about attempts to bring new waves (tsunamis?) to the expression of modern opera. Video, turntables, texting: nothing seems off limits to this outfit, and I think that's the reason for their success in turning increasingly more people onto opera. I'm a multi-decade subscriber to Canadian Opera Company and there's definitely a niche for baroque operas, too, but the emergence of collaborations such as Indie Opera TO (digital presence forthcoming) are proof positive of the coolification of opera in the 21st century.  The other thing I like about...