What A Week

Events in the real world have displaced much of my ability to be happy, and with each passing day the decision to move to Canada appears wiser. Not that Canada is perfect — it’s not — but it seems better here, and the baggage of history is different. I still have so much to learn, though. I am cautious because I know so little.

I don’t have much to say about recent events, alas. Partly because I don’t have anything eloquent or useful to add, and partly because I don’t want to be accused of virtue signalling. Mostly, however, I feel like there are much more important voices to be heard than my own. Here’s one:

There isn’t much else going on at the moment. I’m not making a lot of art, but I did finish an image based on the public art project we were working on in class:

The original design is by my fellow student — and talented artist — Heather Paynter. It should eventually hang on the side of the 49th Street Canada Line station, virus permitting. To create this pseudo-mosaic, I started with a photo of the work in progress — assembled but not painted — and imported it into Inkscape. Then I overlayed it with a grid of squares, grouped those into objects, and applied colour. This was all about fooling around and learning the software, but the result is still nice.

In other news, packing for the upcoming move continues:

There’s still a ways to go, of course, but the studio is getting there. I should have the shelves disassembled before the weekend is over, and the space better organized for more packing and staging.

Finally, remember this image from last week’s post?

In the text I referenced the “Jones Theory” but some didn’t get the reference. In the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy is chased out of a temple by a huge, rolling, stone ball. That’s what I thought this referred to. Thus “Jones Theory.” (Those with a taste for the odd might recall a parody of the same scene from the opening of UHF. There’s an obscure movie to watch during quarantine.)

Others, however, tell me this is a reference to Rover, from The Prisoner. Rover was the weather balloon looking device that kept people from leaving the island. That had not occurred to me. I only watched The Prisoner once. It felt dated and didn’t stick with me. There’s also an issue with the setting. If North Vancouver was an island, with some need to keep people from leaving, the reference to Rover might have more merit. As it is, being next to a large park and a school, it simply didn’t come up.

Though, now that I think about it some more, a device like Rover to keep kids from escaping school might make sense. But then again none of the students attending that school are old enough to have a clue about The Prisoner. Perhaps it’s a joke for their parents?

Dunno. YMMV, as they say.

Did I miss any other possible references? Surely there must be something else. Let me know, please.