Recommendations for October 2016

Please drop in at the WACC to borrow these movies and books.
(WACC is open on Thursday 6-8PM, Sat 10-12 and Sunday 2-4PM)

Movies: 

Brigitte’s Suggestions: 

The Life of Others

Directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck

in German with English subtitles

This movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film 2006. It is a dramatic, spell binding movie. Before the collapse of the Berlin wall, the secret police of East Germany, the Stasi, was monitoring suspected opponents and intellectuals. A secret police agent ordered to bug and monitor a famous and charismatic playwright, witnesses a drama of love and betrayal and makes a life-changing decision. 

Take the time to slowly get into the charged atmosphere of this film, and you will be caught in this spell-binding and thought-provoking story.

In Bruges

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh

in English and French

As stated in the back of the DVD: “Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes star in this edgy, action-packed comedy, filled with thrilling chases, spectacular shoot outs and an explosive ending you won’t want to miss”. 

All I can say is that, although I dislike violent movies, this one is smart and funny with talented actors who play the sarcastic tone to the hilt. I loved it!

Bill and Ted’s excellent adventures

Directed by Stephen Herek

A classic silly teen movie where a young Keanu Reeves (Ted) plays a “ditzy dude” from San Simas, California, who ends up travelling through time with his buddy Bill to meet historical figures for their high school history presentation.

Zoolander (directed by Ben Stiller) and Dodgeball (directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber): 

Two big successes with Ben Stiller who plays a narcissic and ridiculous male model in Zoolander and an enthusiastic and ridiculous dodgeball player in Dodgeball. Both are somewhat crude but hilarious and have reached cult status.

Patricia’s Pick: 

Seducing Doctors Lewis  

This comedy is a Canadian Tale of a small village along the Quebec coast suffering the economic and social decline due to the vanishing fish stocks. A company looking for a suitable workforce to operate a new fish canning factory, informs the village that they need a permanent doctor in order to qualify.  The local residents work together to transform the village in order  to entice a doctor and so the movie goes along its way with wit and an ounce or two of innovation.  There are parallels here to Whitevale and the movie is reminiscent of Waking Ned Devine.  English Subtitles.

Books

Brigitte’s Suggestions:

Disgrace  by J. M. Coetzee

A dark story, harsh but compelling, (and short) written by Nobel prize winner J.M. Coetzee, which forces the readers to reflect and examine their assumptions on racism and on family relationships. Set in the violent and complex context of South Africa, the novel is centered around Professor David Lurie, who at 52, has to leave his job after an affair with one of his student. and subsequently reconnects with his daughter, Lucy. The violent incident they then experience brings the tension and sense of disgrace to a new level. I found their instinct to survive and resilience in front of their desperate situation fascinating and the skill of the author kept me wanting to read this dark and realistic tale to its last word.

Recommended by Brigitte 

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

This book, made up of short stories linked together to form a coherent narrative, is a delight to read. It describes the intricate daily events in the  newsroom of an English language newspaper in Rome. Through the years, and through quirky slices of life snippets, we follow the fate of the journalists, editors and owner and the eventual demise of the newspaper, in the era of technology. The various characters are eccentric, but real at the same time. A fun and witty book!

Recommended by Brigitte

Betty’s Recommendation:

Beautiful Mystery  by Louise Penny (and any book by this author)

Louise Penny is a Canadian author of a series of mystery novels entered on the work of Chief Inspector Armand Ganache of the Sûreté du Québec. Her books are well-written, entertaining and thought provoking at the same time. This particular novel is set in a monastery, known for its world famous singing monk community. The choir director is murdered and Ganache and his colleague Beauvoir discover that the harmony of the place was just an appearance. A satisfying read and , according to the Globe and Mail, “a powerful literary novel in its own right”.

Don’s Disappointment:

On The Road   by Jack Kerouac

Over the 3 years from 1948 to 1951, Kerouac travelled with Neal Cassidy and a few  other friends. From the journals documenting this period, he wrote “On the Road” in 1951. The version of the book found on the WACC’s Shelf is based on the original scroll of tracing paper where he wrote his first draft. There is a long preface and the “novel” starts only on page 108.  Don found it a bit disappointing compared to his expectations from a previous reading a long time ago. But this is undoubtedly a must read, written by an iconoclast who has left his mark on Western Beat culture with his style of “spontaneous prose” and is thought to be the precursor of the hippie movement.

Book For Whitevale Reads (June - September 2016)

The new book for Whitevale Reads has been chosen:

"And the Birds Rained Down" by Jocelyne Saucier

Summary from Canada Reads 2015:

“Deep in a Northern Ontario forest live Tom and Charlie, two octogenarians determined to live out the rest of their lives on their own terms: free of all ties and responsibilities, their only connection to civilization two pot farmers who bring them whatever they can't eke out for themselves. But their solitude is disrupted by the arrival of two women. The first is a photographer searching for survivors of a series of catastrophic fires nearly a century earlier; the second is an elderly escapee from a psychiatric institution. The little hideaway in the woods will never be the same.”

Did you know about the great fires of 1916 in Ontario? Neither did I. They are always in the background of this novel by the francophone writer Jocelyne Saucier. It is a really current issue in view of the present situation at Fort McMurray.

From Wikipedia:
“The great Matheson Fire was a deadly forest fire that passed through the region surrounding the communities of Black River-Matheson and Iroquois Falls, Ontario, Canada, on July 29, 1916.
As was common practice at the time, settlers cleared land using the slash and burn method. That summer, there was little rain and the forests and underbrush burned easily. In the days leading up to July 29, several smaller fires that had been purposely set merged into a single large firestorm. It was huge; at times its front measured 64 kilometres (40 mi) across. On that fateful day, the fire moved uncontrollably upon the towns of Porquis Junction, Iroquois Falls, Kelso, Nushka, Matheson, and Ramore - destroying them completely - while causing extensive damage to Homer and Monteith. A separate fire burned in and around Cochrane. In all, the fires burned an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometres (490,000 acres).
Because of forest fire smoke that had covered the region for several weeks and the absence of a forest fire monitoring service, there was almost no warning that the conflagration was upon the communities. Some people escaped on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (now the Ontario Northland Railway), while others were saved by wading into the nearby Black River or one of the small lakes in the area. 223 people were killed according to the official estimate.
The Matheson Fire led to the creation of the Forest Protection Branch of the Department of Lands, Forests and Mines (now known as the Ministry of Natural Resources) and the Forest Fires Prevention Act in Ontario.
The great fires are the subject of the books Killer in the Bush by Michael Barnes, and Il pleuvait des oiseaux by Jocelyne Saucier"

To know more about the Matheson fire:

http://www.iroquoisfallschamber.com/web-content/Pages/nushka.html

http://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/cmsimages/18/18f43b81-8062-45ba-a86c-10ed87b53683.pdf

To learn about Jocelyne and the writing of the novel:

http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2015/02/jocelyne-saucier-how-i-wrote-and-the-birds-rained-down.html

Book Discussion: 15 dogs by Andre Alexis

Fifteen Whitevalians got together on Saturday, April 16, 7 PM around a bowl of chili, bread cheese and delicious desserts (thank you Judy and Danielle) to discuss Fifteen Dogs, a book by Andre Alexis where 15 dogs are given human intelligence and understanding of language by two bored Greek gods, Hermes and Appolo.

We discussed what the book brought to our knowledge of our pets, how well the hierarchical dog society was described, as well as the dogs's way to relate to their environment, all about smells and food, and we agreed that this was just a superficial aspect of a book which really looks into human behaviour and what constitutes happiness.

The premise that one of the god would win if the dogs died happy seemed wrong to us, as happiness is not a state but fleeting moment, and happiness at the time of death does not mean automatically that the life as a whole has been happy. Before receiving human intelligence, the dogs were maybe not happy with the status quo but they felt secure, whether they were with a master or in a pack. The dogs did not become happier when they received "understanding" and became aware of the unfairness of their condition. Some tried to go back to the old ways, some tried to adapt, other became rebels, and one became an artist.

Atticus, the leader, wanted the pack to become independent from humans and they survived by hiding and scavenging in a park by Lake Ontario. Atticus did not like the changes brought by the gods and he eliminated one by one the dissidents. Benny, the cunning beagle, survived by manipulating humans and dogs alike, until he met a horrible fate, abandoned in a locked house and dying of starvation. However, two of the dogs might have died happy, Prince by remembering one last time the boy who owned him, Kim, and Majnoun (a name which means in Persan "Crazy for love"), by finding a true soulmate in Nira, the human who treated him as an equal. Is happiness loving someone and being loved, as it is suggested in the last sentence of the book?

Is it a book about dogs, is it a book about humans, is it a book about gods? We all found it a clever and humorous book, with some difficult passages as most of the 15 dogs meet a violent death.  Is it a book about the arrogance of humans, who think themselves superior to all the other species. Are we that different from dogs?

A new dog poem: Abby

Written by Alison Kahn

Running, Master and I
Through trees, down hills
to water - I splash
Others, like me, run free.
So much to do, what bliss this is...
Leaving so soon?
Wait, I must tell the Lab
before I go,
that I'll be back tomorrow.

The question of the week is:

Who is the most cruel? The gods or the dogs?

Please post your comments in the comment box below.
You can also check the youtube "teaser" for the book
Teaser for Fifteen Dogs

as well as the longer CBC podcast on Ideas with Tom Kennedy.
CBC Podcast

Find the poem for your dog among these 3 poems, and feel free to add yours:

Is the name hidden Max, Roxy, Treble, Frank, Scarlett, Ozzie, Cindy, Billy, Freckles, Bunny, Gibson, Duke, or Indy?
Please respond in the comment box and/or add your own poem (you could win treats for your dog!!!!).

1.
The elders of the pack,
the wise grizzled ones never ask
themselves the question:
"to be or not to be".
"Listen, they say instead, listen
to the wind and to the river! Look, they add,
look at the fields and the sky and the clouds!
Because you are all that surrounds you!"

2.
When I decide to rest, I look
for shelter under a clump of cedars
because, even in the darkness of dusk, 
my eyes will shine, two piercing lights
that could betray my presence until
I fall asleep and my shadow melts 
in the shadows of the night.

3.
Some have seen me galloping by,
and afterwards, they could not say if
I was a wolf, or a deer, or a ghost.
I run through the night
rebel without a cause,
my dusty coat shimmering in the moonlight.

I took your challenge, Tricia:

Here are two poems for your dogs:

My humans had a party today
With famous guests:  Justin T.
and a certain Madame de...
Glasses of Champagne, laughter...
I licked a puddle on the floor,
it smelled like old apples, delicious
fruits rotting on the ground, after they fall...
Blurry eyes, trembling paws,
I fell on the way to my bed.
Tullamore Dew, they call this brew,
Irish Whiskey.
What did I do?


My human likes poetry,
opera, drama,
guitar and flamenco.
Her music makes me sing,
makes me howl, and she laughs...
so I howl louder because
I like to make her happy.

From our resident poet. Tricia, a contribution to the Dog Poetry Challenge:


What Rhymes with Flu?

Oh, to live up to your designation,
Resident poet,
Embedding my dogs’ names in gleaming verse
just so I could show it.

But despite my best efforts
(the fistfuls of hair yanked),
The handles Maggie and Douglas
Will not bend to such pranks.

I’ve racked my brain,
(think I’m coming down with a bug),
There’s no friggin’ word in the English language
That ends with the syllable Doug!

So I offer here instead,
My thanks for a great game,
Other entrants, I assure you,
Will be nowhere near as lame.

And just for the record,
My next dogs’ names I’ve already got,
Would it be so wrong to call Westies
Sal and Spot?

- Tricia McCallum

Jon Vacher is our winner, he found that the dogs named were:


Luna,












Teddy,













and Murphy.














Now check Sue Wilson's poems and find her dogs' name hidden in the poetic verses.

Roving endlessly through
the inky darkness
buffeted by wind and sleet.
Desperately seeking warmth
perhaps a discarded morsel to fill the belly,
at minimum access to
shelter from the storm.

With yelps and growls
a growing vocabulary develops
Prince with infinite patience
encourages our voices
to form a chorus
teaching us to echo his sounds
Yet some reject his wisdom.
Poetry is not for us.

Dog Poetry

In the book "Fifteen Dogs", Prince, the dog with the artistic mind, creates oral poems for dogs. The trick is to have the name of the dog hidden in the poem in order to get the dog interested. Here is the poem about Atticus which is, incidentally, the one where it is easiest to find the dog's name (the others are much more challenging):

In the sunny world, with its small
things moving too fast,
I shy away from light
and in the attic cuss the dark.

Here are 3 short poems that Prince could have written, but the dog's names included are dogs belonging to Whitevale residents. 

• Write a comment on this blog if you find them. The price is a special treat for your dog if you are the first one to respond. 
• You can also, if you are inspired, write a poem with your dog's name hidden and post it in the blog to win a special prize for your dog.

1. In the moonlight, your ears stand up:
    the lonely cry of the loon,

    a capella, like an ancient

    sacred song in the dark.    

2. This forest is my hood, my domain,

    my homestead, even.

   Here I can run free

   and find delight in

   the aromatic pestilence of

   mouldy autumn leaves.

3. The crescent moon lights the path.

    No sound is heard but 

    of the leaves

    the trembling murmur.

    Fear not, little one,

    run with your pack!

"Fifteen Dogs" is the first book chosen by the WACC for Whitevale Reads.
Written by Andre Alexis, it won the prestigious Giller Prize in 2015.

Says Alexis, "The idea for Fifteen Dogs came to me after watching Pier Paolo Pasolini's film Teorema. In Teorema, a god comes down to earth, interacts with and influences a family and then leaves them, and we watch the result of that bereavement. I really, really liked that, and I wanted to re-write that story in some way. The situation that Fifteen Dogs describes, the gods influencing the dogs, was one that was particularly vivid to me because I have a love for animals, but maybe even more particularly because I have a love for animal stories."

As the parable begins, Hermes and Apollo bet on the outcome of giving animals human consciousness. They choose to test their bet 15 dogs spending the night in the back of a Toronto animal clinic.

“ I wonder, said Hermes, what it would be like if animals had human intelligence.
– I wonder if they’d be as unhappy as humans, Apollo answered.
– Some humans are unhappy; others aren’t. Their intelligence is a difficult gift.
– I’ll wager a year’s servitude, said Apollo, that animals – any animal you choose – would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they had human intelligence.
– An earth year? I’ll take that bet, said Hermes, but on condition that if, at the end of its life, even one of the creatures is happy, I win.”

The canine creatures they have chosen for their bet are 15 dogs, who for different reasons, have had to spend the night in a veterinary clinic. As described by Alexis, these dogs are different in breed, size and personality:

AGATHA, an old Labradoodle
ATHENA, a brown teacup Poodle
ATTICUS, an imposing Neapolitan Mastiff, with cascading jowls
BELLA, a Great Dane, Athena’s closest pack mate
BENJY, a resourceful and conniving Beagle
BOBBIE, an unfortunate Duck Toller
DOUGIE, a Schnauzer, friend to Benjy
FRICK, a Labrador Retriever
FRACK, a Labrador Retriever, Frick’s litter mate
LYDIA, a Whippet and Weimaraner cross, tormented and nervous
MAJNOUN, a black Poodle, briefly referred to as ‘Lord Jim’ or simply ‘Jim’
“MAX, a mutt who detests poetry
PRINCE, a mutt who composes poetry, also called Russell or Elvis
RONALDINHO, a mutt who deplores the condescension of humans
ROSIE, a German Shepherd bitch, close to Atticus”

The book is an easy read but has deeper layers and implications that one first realizes. The author makes us see (and smell) well-known Toronto landmarks through the eyes and noses of the dogs, and  their newly acquired consciousness and intelligence seem to create more problems than they solve. Some dogs start to question their dependence on humans; one even starts to write poetry, shocking those in the group intent on continuing to live the traditional life of dogs. Survival instinct and acceptance of the domination of the strongest,  which are fundamental in highly hierarchical dogs' groups, are now threatened by new, too human, feelings: jealousy, competition, contempt and hate that lead to the formation of alliances and friendships, and ultimately to betrayals and murders.

I will add links and additional comments but I invite you in the meantime to contribute your comments, positive or not, with some explanations of why you are enjoying/enjoyed the book or not.
We will meet in the evening of April 16 at the WACC for discussion and refreshment.
Check www.whitevaleacc.ca for more information.