SFFS Update: Week 1

After one week of science fiction-free reading: 20 chapters of Jane Eyre down, 18 to go; roughly halfway through by page count. I'm not as far behind as I thought, as the beginning of the week was slow reading, and I've picked up the pace considerably in the last couple of days.

Oh, yes, this is late Victorian literature, all right: it's hip-deep in orphans. Not to mention wicked foster families, abusive schoolmasters, gruel, and innocent waifs dying of consumption. I would be rolling my eyes at the piles of clichés, if I didn't know that books like Jane Eyre were the ones that started the clichés.

To this point, Jane has been sent to a charity school for orphaned girls. After finishing school she becomes employed by wealthy bachelor Mr. Rochester, serving as governess to his young ward Adele.

There's a sort of love triangle, and a mystery: someone in the house tried to set fire to Rochester's bed, and attacked one of his house-guests. Oh my. I hope there's not a mad woman in the attic!

Step right up to the three-ring media circus

We have been held gripped in suspense as a saga unfolds in Gainesville, Florida. The story of Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, has enthralled the media for the last several days, as he declared today, September 11, "International Burn a Koran Day" and threatened to do just that. Clergy, military commanders, diplomats, and heads of state have weighed in. I, personally, have been glued to the cable news networks as this international crisis unfolds.

Well, that last part is a lie. Actually, all I've done is read the periodic updates to the news story on the CBC Web site as the nefarious conflagration went back and forth like a ping-pong ball.

At first, it was on. Then it was off, because Jones had received assurances from the Ground Zero mosque imam that the location would be changed.

Then it was on again, because Jones decided the imam "clearly, clearly lied to us." (No, really. Taqiyya, anyone?) He issued a two-hour ultimatum to the New York imam to contact him and set up a meeting to find a "peaceful solution" to this issue. Yes, that's right: Jones demanded a meeting to negotiate a solution to a crisis he personally precipitated and could unilaterally call off.

Now, it's off again, and apparently Jones took a night flight to New York to try and meet with the imam, Presumably, he is still seeking his "peaceful solution."

Whatever. Jones has accomplished nothing of value. He has attracted attention to himself and his church, of course, although that hasn't exactly been positive: their now-offline Web site affirmed support for hatemongering Westboro "Baptist" "Church" in Topeka, and (The Smoking Gun snagged a copy of their in-house school's handbook, which is bizarre, to say the least. Jones' stated intent gave the perpetually outraged "Arab Street" yet another excuse to seethe against the West and came within a hair's breadth of causing an international incident. And, frankly, who told him that burning books would leave a positive impression with his audience?

Terry Jones has derelicted his duty as a minister of the Gospel. First, he has taken the name of God in vain. Each successive step in the last week's flip-flop has supposedly been undertaken after prayer or hearing the voice of God. Sorry, but God is not that fickle. The Bible says that God has "no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:18); on the other hand, the same author does have something to say about double-minded and unstable men (1:8).

Second, Jones has given needless offense. Paul became "all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22) because he did not want to cause unnecessary offense to those whom he wished to reach with the Gospel. He respected their taboos; the Gospel itself was offense enough (1 Cor. 1:23). Iconoclasm in the Bible is neither used as a form of political protest, nor as a means of presenting the Gospel. When Paul visited Athens, though he was upset by the many idols in the city, he did not smash them. Rather, he used an idol dedicated to an unknown god as an object lesson, preaching to the Athenians about the true God whom they did not know.

Pastor Jones has squandered an opportunity to preach Jesus to Muslims. Instead of the decent man who treats them respectfully and answers their questions about his hope in the Prophet Jesus with confidence, now he will be the crazy old kook who tried to hold a mosque hostage by threatening to desecrate a book they deem holy. Worse, this has ramifications that go well beyond the city limits of Gainesville: world-wide protests have already happened by Muslims who don't distinguish between the acts of a lone kook and those of the entire "Christian" West. Jones has probably made life much harder for Christian missionaries everywhere. For this act of supreme boneheadednes, I hereby award him the DIM BULB du jour.

A special 40-watt honour has to go to the media, who kept this circus running, until finally realizing yesterday that it was a non-story.

I like James White's idea when this story first broke: instead of "Burn a Quran Day," have "Read a Quran Day" - and having carefully read it, know better how to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to its followers who so desperately need to hear it. Let the only scandal be the scandal of the cross.

Margaret Atwood, censor

Political thick-headedness from someone who ought to know better:

Margaret Atwood is criticizing Stephen Harper over what she sees as his dictatorial approach to regulating the airwaves.

The literary icon has signed an online petition aimed at keeping a “Fox News North” channel off the air in Canada. But it’s not the idea of a right-wing television station she’s objecting to. Rather, the prolific and celebrated writer doesn’t like the Prime Minister’s style of governing.

“Of course Fox & Co. can set up a channel or whatever they want to do, if it's legal etc.,” she told The Globe and Mail in an email. “But it shouldn't happen this way. It's like the head-of-census affair – gov't direct meddling in affairs that are supposed to be arm's length – so do what they say or they fire you.

“It's part of the ‘I make the rules around here,’ Harper-is-a-king thing,” she wrote.

[Full Story]

On August 31, Atwood tweeted that she had signed a petition to the CRTC to disallow Sun Media a license for a new news channel: "Yikes! Canadians wld be forced to pay for this? Not!" As the Globe article indicates, her real motivation is ostensibly because she doesn't like the process by which this channel is being imposed.

Fair enough. But the Web page the petition is on betrays a considerably different motivation: "Stop Fox News North," it says. It calls Sun's news station - which has yet to broadcast a single second of news - "American-style hate media," "hate-filled propaganda," and a "nightmare." (Ironically this petition, circulated under the auspices of Avaaz.org, which was co-founded by MoveOn.org, the hard-left advocacy group that funds Democratic candidates in the United States, encourages the CRTC to "stand up for Canadian democratic traditions.")

It appears that whatever Atwoods own motives may be for signing this petition, the motives of the petitioners themselves are quite different: censorship of opposing viewpoints. Atwood herself has been the target of censorship attempts: her fine novel The Handmaid's Tale is one of the most frequently challenged books in American libraries. So why is she lending her good name to the efforts of Internet activists to censor opinions they don't like? Worse, she's a writer. Is a signature on an inflammatory Internet petition the most persuasive argument for her position that Atwood is capable of?

Fortunately, this is an Internet petition, so no one who matters will take notice.

By the way, to be consistent, Atwood must also support the privatization of the CBC, which all Canadians must pay for whether they want it or not. Correct?

Even prominent public intellectuals are not incapable of the occasional brain fart, so this particular controversy seemed like a good occasion to resurrect the DIM BULB du jour, awarded to those who are able to grab the public spotlight, then abuse the privilege by saying or doing something stupid.

Tell you what, Mags: I'm going to petition our public library to remove your books from the shelves. But it's not the idea of feminist CanLit I'm objecting to. Rather, I don't like your style of protesting.

P.S.

I've squandered that 3-day head start. Jane Eyre is playing hard to get.

Happy 7th blogiversary

The Crusty Curmudgeon went officially online September 4, 2003. Thus, this is its 7th anniversary - meaning that while I may no longer be the most active blogger around, I can at least take some comfort in being one of the older and more longer-lived ones.

While I have no intention of giving up, obviously my attention is elsewhere much of the time these days. I'd like to think that this is just because there is so much more social media to pay attention to that wasn't around in 2003: podcasting, Twitter, and Facebook, just to name three. More stuff means less individual time for each - and like many bloggers I've found myself spending more time on Twitter than Blogger, just because it seems conducive to throwaway comments and quick links.

On the other hand, my near-moribund reading habit is experiencing a revival, so maybe there's hope for my semi-conscious blogging habit as well.

Either way, I'm not going away in a hurry. To my handful of remaining Faithful Readers: Thanks for hanging in there.

It's been my habit to revamp the look of the blog on this day. However, when I switched over to Blogger 2 last year, I discovered that it was no longer as simple as preparing a new HTML template, and there's precious little useful documentation on the current skin format. Hopefully I'll have a new skin by the end of the year - one that looks good across platforms (sorry to all you IE users . . .).

Science Fiction-Free September VI, VII - oh, I've lost count

Every September for the last several years, I've self-imposed a moratorium on reading science fiction, my preferred genre for reading. This was originally a way to devote a month to reading literature that is somewhat different from my standard fare.

In recent years, it seems that I've gotten most of my content from podcasts rather than dead-tree books, so in a sense every month has effectively been science fiction-free, in the sense that it's been entirely reading-free. I'm glad that since the beginning of this year that has begun to change: I've been intensely reading Isaac Asimov and Victor Hugo, for example. And I'm about due for my triannual rereading of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings - so if there's ever a good time to revive SFFS, this is it.

Since I usually like to decide on a theme for the month, this year I've decided to go with "Unfinished Works" - that is, to concentrate on books that were required reading in some class, but which I never finished (and thus had to bluster my way through tests - usually successfully, if I may say so myself). The most famous required reading book that I never finished reading was The Catcher in the Rye. It is not on the list. I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole and a hazmat suit. J. D. Salinger died in January, and as far as I'm concerned his Rousseauean hippie swill can die with him. So for starters, my list will look like this:

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. In my last term of university, I took a course in late Victorian prose, specifically because I wanted to sit under Professor John North for one course before I graduated. Unfortunately, he fell ill a week into the course, which was then completed by anohter lecturer. Jane Eyre was the only book he lectured on that term. Not expecting to move on to the next work so quickly, I left the last hundred pages or so unread, and never got around to finishing. Despite Dr. North's absence, I enjoyed the remainder of the course just fine, but the pace was a little faster than I was able to keep up with, so I left a lot of stuff half-read, for instance:
2. Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold. Finish it? Heck, I never even started it! All I know is that this work was responsible for popularizing the phrases "sweetness and light" and "Philistines." 13 years later, it's high time I got started.
3. Unto This Last by John Ruskin. Like Jane Eyre, I read most of it but ran out of time to finish before the term ended. But I loved reading Ruskin's prose, and I actually look forward to rereading this one.

My aim is to keep up a pace of one book per week, Sunday to Saturday (plus the three-day head start I have now). If there's time left in the month after these three works, then I'll see what I can add to the list. Between courses in modern literary criticism, contemporary rhetorical theory, and philosophy, there's no shortage of abandoned literature. T. S. Eliot? Rolande Barthes? Karl Marx? The possibilities are endless.

Happy reading, all.

Score another point for the old alma mater

First UW got Stephen Hawking, now we get this:

David Johnston, announced as Canada's next governor general on Thursday, is pledging to be a "stalwart defender" of Canada's heritage, institutions and people.

After weeks of speculation, the Prime Minister's Office said the Canadian legal scholar and president of the University of Waterloo, Ont., has been approved by the Queen and will take over on Oct. 1 after Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean's term ends.

In a statement to reporters from the Senate foyer in Ottawa, Johnston called the appointment a "mark of confidence that touches me profoundly." He also noted his predecessors, from Samuel de Champlain to Jean, have set a "fine example" for him to follow.

[Full Story]

I never had the opportunity to meet Dr. Johnston, as I graduated two years before he arrived at Waterloo. But I've heard nothing but good things about him. He succeeds Michaëlle Jean in September - and has some big shoes to fill. All the best.

That's entertainment

The dominance of synthesizers in Rush's music ended with the release of their 1989 album Presto. With a change of label and producer, the band desired to return to their musical roots. While the synth isn't absent, it's no longer dominating the guitar and bass as it had been since Signals.

While not their most remarkable album, I have fond memories of Presto simply because it was the first one of Rush's that I heard on compact disc (which was, as you would expect, much more dynamic than the LP that I had bought on release day).

Of the three singles from this album, "Superconductor" is my favourite. While technically released as a single in 1990, it was of course recorded and sold in 1989, so I'm claiming a technicality here.

It's a beauty way to go

It is, once again, Canada Day: Canada's 143rd birthday. As I write this, I can hear the sound of fireworks at Parliament Hill - which, supposedly, I would be able to see if not for the block of townhouses adjacent to the back yard. As always, downtown Ottawa is closed to traffic and becomes the location of a massive street party. This year is particularly special, as the Queen arrived in Halifax on Tuesday, and was present in Ottawa for the day's festivities.

It has been my tradition every year to post a short history about some Canadian patriotic song. I hope no one minds if I'm a little tongue-in-cheek this year, but while posting a week of Rush hits, I couldn't resist this opportunity.

In 1980, the CBC network asked the producers of the sketch comedy program SCTV to include two minutes of specifically Canadian content. In response, cast members Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis created "The Great White North," a mock talk show in which two dimwitted brothers wore toques, drank beer, ate back bacon, spoke in Canadian slang, and basically parodied every Canadian stereotype there was. Amazingly, the segment became the most popular part of SCTV, and Bob and Doug McKenzie became not merely caricatures, but genuine Canadian cultural icons.

Since the characters became inexplicably popular in the United States, Bob and Doug became cultural ambassadors of a sort, and are probably as responsible as anyhing else for the notion that we Canadians say "Eh?" and "Take off" and "Beauty!" a lot. In addition to SCTV, the Bob and Doug phenomenon spawned a hit comedy record, a cult movie, a set of ads for Pizza Hut, an animated TV series, and, of course, a hit comedy album. The Great White North was like an audio-only version of the TV show, discussing such topics as Doug's ability to make sound effects with his mouth or why donut shops never have enough parking spaces. It even included a hit single: "Take Off," which even broke the top 20 in the U.S. It features Rush's Geddy Lee singing the chorus - because, as he says on the album, "Ten bucks is ten bucks." (Moranis and Lee actually attended public school together as children.)

Here it is. Enjoy. (And happy birthday, Canada.)

Previous Canada Day songs:

• 2004: O Canada
• 2005: The Maple Leaf Forever
• 2006: Farewell to Nova Scotia
• 2007: A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow
• 2008: God Save the Queen
• 2009: This Is My Home

It's a cinderella story on a tumble of the dice

Rush's synthesizer sound hit its zenith (or its nadir, depending on how you feel about that sort of thing) with their 1985 album Power Windows. While older Rush albums used the synthesizer primarily as a padding instrument, on the lead track "The Big Money" it takes the lead with heavy, bright stabs and sequenced riffs.

"The Big Money"'s video is notable for two things. One, believe it or not, these computer graphics were state of the art (it had only been a few months since Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" broke new ground for digital animation). Two, Geddy's mullet makes him look like a cross between Pippi Longstocking and a poodle. Aren't you glad the 80s are over?