Lilian Nattel's Blog, page 32
August 22, 2011
Jack Layton's last letter to Canadians
"Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear." Read it all, please. http://ow.ly/69OKL
Filed under: Miscellany
Jack Layton Was A Good Man
He was a politician I could truly admire: a man of integrity. How rare is that? And now he's gone. What can I say?
OTTAWA – Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton died today, just months after leading his party to unprecedented success in the federal election campaign. He was 61.
The party issued a statement from Layton's family.
"We deeply regret to inform you that The Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, passed away at 4:45 am today, Monday August 22," said the statement from his wife, Olivia Chow, and two children, Sarah and Michael.
"He passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family and loved ones."
Filed under: Concerning Tagged: Jack Layton
August 21, 2011
August 17, 2011
billionnaire says stop coddling the super rich
OUR leaders have asked for "shared sacrifice." But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
via nytimes.com
Filed under: Miscellany
August 16, 2011
over-rated great novels?
Authors confess to books they'd kick out of the canon Slate Magazine http://ow.ly/64NpJ
Filed under: Miscellany
August 15, 2011
August 13, 2011
See the Cover!
I've been MIA this week as summer took over. Less than a month left and so much to do with kids and Web of Angels. Do you like the cover? I'm really happy with it!
I got the page design last week and it's just lovely. Before my first book came out, I had no idea how much thought went into the initial letter of a chapter or the curlicues in breaks.
Mid-week I spent the day in the far suburbs with my kids–A joined us there for supper. Milton is one of the fastest growing communities around here. It's about an hour and a half by Go bus from Toronto–an hour when the train is running during its select hours. My kids consider nothing more exotic and exciting than a suburban house with an above ground pool. They hung out all day with my friend C's kids and not a word of "what do we do now" was spoken by anyone. And I picked C's brains, for she is web adept.
As a result, I bought a web template and have been happily (well sometimes totally frustrated) working on a new website. I'm really excited to have it in my hot hands and to be able to put to work all the ideas I've had not only for the site itself but for branching out in workshops and coaching.
But suddenly I'm realizing that summer is quickly coming to a conclusion and I haven't yet done the book trailer or put together the photo exhibit. I'd better get my camera out!
Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: Lilian's update
August 9, 2011
chimp dads as well as moms adopt babies
Here we report 18 cases of adoption, a highly costly behavior, of orphaned youngsters by group members in Taï forest chimpanzees. Half of the adoptions were done by males and remarkably only one of these proved to be the father. Such adoptions by adults can last for years and thus imply extensive care towards the orphans. These observations reveal that, under the appropriate socio-ecologic conditions, chimpanzees do care for the welfare of other unrelated group members and that altruism is more extensive in wild populations than was suggested by captive studies.
via plosone.org
Filed under: Miscellany
August 8, 2011
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Yesterday I saw a 3D movie and it was gorgeous. This is how it came about.
My dear sister-in-law and her boyfriend were intending to take my kids to Canada's Wonderland on Saturday but changed their plans due to an uncertain weather forecast. As it turned out, Saturday was a beautiful day, albeit warm, a perfect day for rides and waterpark. The new plan was to go on Sunday. We conferred Saturday evening and Sunday morning by phone and text because we woke up to a downpour.
Nonetheless my s-i-l stubbornly insisted on proceeding and her stubbornness paid off. The weather cleared, line-ups were short because other people's trepidation kept them away. In the meantime A and I were free to have a (rare) day to ourselves.
The day didn't start out well for me. I took some pictures with my new camera which were (again) not quite in focus. Googling the problem, I found that other people had had the same issues with the camera. Normal frustration turned to the kind of sadness I sometimes still feel despite all the healing I've done: that nothing I do will work out and that I don't deserve it either.
Fortunately it didn't prevail. I went to Downtown Camera, the store where I'd purchased the camera. There Deven kindly and patiently examined the camera. He took pictures with it, demonstrated how to use it, and left me feeling excited again about photography.
At the end of the day, A and I had a delectable dinner at Cafe 668, finished off with a dessert deservedly called Mango Heaven: mango fried in phyllo pastry topped with coconut cream and black sesame seeds. There was a hard rain while we finished dinner and a gentler rain that we walked home through. But what I really want to tell you about is the movie I saw yesterday afternoon.
From Downtown Camera, A and I walked to Tiff Bell Lightbox, where we saw Cave of Forgotten Dreams. This is a extraordinary 3D documentary about ancient cave paintings discovered in the south of France. The movie was filmed in 3D to give viewers a more accurate impression of the paintings on the curved walls of the cave than anyone could get from merely seeing the flat view of a normal film.These are the oldest known paintings, 32,000 years old, preserved for millenia because the cave entrance was closed by a rock fall. It was discovered again serendipitiously about 15 years ago.
The cave is carefully preserved and the general public is not allowed to enter. [Werner] Herzog received special permission from the French minister of culture to film inside the cave.Having received permission, Herzog nonetheless had to film under heavy restrictions. All people authorized to enter must wear special suits and shoes that have had no contact with the exterior.Also, because of near-toxic levels of radon and carbon dioxide, nobody can stay in the cave for more than a few hours per day.
You can get more technical information (and interesting it is) on the making of the film at the link above. The article on the Chauvet Caves is worth reading too:
Rather than depicting only the familiar animals of the hunt that predominate in Paleolithic cave art, i.e. horses, cattle, reindeer, etc., the walls of the Chauvet Cave include many predatory animals: Cave lions, panthers, bears, owls, and Cave Hyenas. Also pictured are rhinos…There are also two unidentifiable images that have a vaguely butterfly shape to them.
I swear those looked like angels. My reaction to the film: I was blown away. The beauty and artistry of these ancient paintings are as vivid and relevant today as they were in the days when Neanderthals were the painters' neighbours. The paintings were seen by firelight. Their function is unknown. There were no galleries, no media coverage. They speak directly to me of what is most human and most profound in consciousness: the impulse to create, to find beauty, to interpret life by representing it in partnership with the viewer. This is why I write.
So here we are, those artists and I, separated by millenia, understanding each other despite differences that would surely make us alien to each other. I've got a computer, I'm talking to you over the internet, a virtual connection I don't even understand. But I'm doing the same thing as those artists 32,000 years ago. I'm painting in a cave, often in the dark.
Today my editor sent me the page design for Web of Angels– and it's beautiful. This is really happening now: many people are putting their hands to my book. The fire is lit. The paintings are coming to life.
Filed under: Beautiful, Interesting, Literary Tagged: chauvet cave art
August 6, 2011
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