Winged Words Story # 1 In 2017, I visited an old friend in New York, to see her city through her eyes and to take advantage of her kindness and free couch. I fell in love with it and vowed to return again in some capacity, if one day I could. It’s the only American city I can see myself calling home one day, there’s something about its vibrance and dynamism, there’s a magic in being lost in a sea...
Elevation and depth in the world serve to complicate one’s wish to move in a linear manner. Yet life is a non-linear journey, and so we find beauty in things that rise and tower above us, and mystery in the incalculable things that plunge below us. There is value, it seems, in viewing things in a complex manner. On the other hand, when we eliminate the complexity of our world, as totalitarians...
Everyone I speak to quickly learns that I’m interested in pursuing criminal law, so it should be no surprise that I enjoy the occasional true crime story or two. The genre has become prolific, especially on Netflix, and there is no shortage of media to consume. I have particularly enjoyed the following stories, and I hope you find something that piques your interest whether you’re an experienced...
Obiter’s Survey of Books on China Continues At the heart of Canadian historian Timothy Brook’s new book, Great State: China and the World (Harper, 2020), is a desire to show that China’s interactions with the rest of the world—at least since the thirteenth century—have been varied and complex. Indeed, China did not exist in splendid isolation until being “opened up” in the eighteenth and...
That was one of the questions put to viewers by Netflix’s recent documentary, The Social Dilemma. The documentary interviews prominent technological experts who helped design some of the most iconic social media functions: for example, Facebook’s “like” button. The documentary begins with experts acknowledging there is a problem but having difficulty labelling and defining the problem. Of...
A few weeks ago, the French film Cuties landed on Netflix amid a torrent of criticism that the movie promotes pedophilia. The outrage was largely tied to the image that Netflix had chosen to market the film, which showed the movie’s 11-year-old protagonists—a group of girls who form a dance troupe—in sexually suggestive poses and clad in skin-tight, barely-there costumes. The image was, as...
On August 28th, the world got the shocking news that actor Chadwick Boseman had passed away at the age of 43 after a 4-year battle with colon cancer. We learned that day that Boseman chose to keep his illness a secret while working on the projects that brought him to fame. Needless to say, Hollywood and, more significantly, the Black community is in mourning over the loss of an actor that took...
The new Mulan is the latest example of big-budget movies that fail to deliver on representation. The announcement of a live-action remake of Mulan, the 1998 Disney animated classic, was met with much fanfare. However, details about the possible addition of a white love interest and the rumour that Disney was not looking for an Asian actress to play Mulan was met with equal backlash. To win back...
Last November, Ray Chen played a recital in Toronto’s Koerner Hall. While Chen did not know it at the time, this performance was one of the last of the Old Age of classical music, which focused on overpriced concerts, traditional modes of teaching, armchair criticism, and poorly paid musicians. In totality, these markers resulted in what was perceived as a dying art form. Nonetheless, COVID...
The Photograph is a love story written and directed by Stella Meghie starring Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, two black actors among the biggest names in Hollywood. Since its release, discussions of its quality have seen it compared to other black cinema, while others simply found it boring. After seeing the film, I beg to differ with the boring label and think that it’s an important work. ...
Four More Books on China The internecine conflict between the Kuomintang (or Nationalists) and Communists defined Chinese politics for many decades. By the time the defeated Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949, it had been going on for over 20 years—intermittently at first, and as a full-scale civil war from 1945. Thereafter, it continued as a mostly cold, very occasionally hot war before settling...
The Photograph is a love story starring Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, two black actors who are among the biggest names in Hollywood today. Since it was released last weekend, there have been some discussions about the quality of the film. Some are comparing it to films such as Queen and Slim while others simply thought that it was boring. After seeing the film, I think it is worth having a...
There is a configuration of identity in our country that is becoming increasingly common with each passing day; yet, without a word uttered concerning its existence. It is a form of identity that is poorly understood by those who experience it, as it is true only half of the time. I am describing Canadians whose identities as ‘Canadian’ have been only recently conferred. Some of us were born here...
The video essay weighs in on the struggle against oppression and how African-Americans are forced to endure this. During the reading break, I had the opportunity to visit Montréal and view Arthur Jafa’s “Love is the Message, the Message is Death, 2016” at the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal. “Love is the Message” is a video essay that has been featured at the Metropolitan Museum...
In veering away from her normal documentary fare, Kitty Green presents a vital distillation of the troubles that have plagued #MeToo Kitty Green’s latest feature-length, following 2017’s Casting JonBenet, is a slow burn that will certainly find its detractors, but its fans might outvoice them. The message is a much needed one in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, bringing attention to the...
Four More Books on China The internecine conflict between the Kuomintang (or Nationalists) and Communists defined Chinese politics for many decades. By the time the defeated Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949, it had been going on for over 20 years—intermittently at first, and as a full-scale civil war from 1945. Thereafter, it continued as a mostly cold, very occasionally hot war before settling...
Four More Books on China The internecine conflict between the Kuomintang (or Nationalists) and Communists defined Chinese politics for many decades. By the time the defeated Kuomintang fled to Taiwan in 1949, it had been going on for over 20 years—intermittently at first, and as a full-scale civil war from 1945. Thereafter, it continued as a mostly cold, very occasionally hot war before settling...
An illuminative discussion with one of Osgoode’s finest In the inaugural piece of what I hope is to become a recurring feature with different instructors, I sit down with Professor Berger for a chat about his career and what he likes to do to unwind. Tomi Milos (TM): I know a little bit about your decorated path through school, but I’m curious as to when you developed a taste for academia. Did...
In vearing away from her normal documentary fare, Kitty Green presents a vital distillation of the troubles that have plagued #MeToo Kitty Green’s latest feature-length, following 2017’s Casting JonBenet, is a slow burn that will certainly find its detractors, but its fans might outvoice them. The message is a much needed one in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, bringing attention to the...
If you saw Cats (2019), a pending class action lawsuit may affect you Are you a lover of film, musical theatre, cats, or Jason Derulo? Do you love them all and spend your days seeking an amalgamation that will quench your aching thirst for all four? Are you simply a lover of decency, good taste, and well-rendered CGI? If you or a loved one was exposed to CATS (2019, dir. Tom Hooper)...
Editor’s Note: Manny, our Satire Editor, has written another great non-satirical concert review. That’s right: you are to take the following quite literally. Returning to Toronto to perform at Generator, the science expo/TEDTalk/variety show created by Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield on January 10th, TWRP headlined at the Opera House with Rich Aucoin on January 11th before starting their...
As all of my Osgoode classmates have now come to know, musicals have defined much of my life. I mean, how fun is it to just burst into a song and dance to explore a big moment or dilemma in your life? Although not a realistic route to conflict resolution, song and dance have been integrated into much of my life since I was a young child. I began my passion for performance as a competitive...
So, what exactly is Eataly? A quick Google search will tell you that Eataly is a fusion of two words: eat and Italy. This snazzy name is used to describe an eatery that combines fresh ingredients, grocery-store style, with various hot tables and restaurant spaces. You could be walking down an aisle of fresh produce or finding yourself mesmerised by the deli and cheese counters. Then, you turn...
A few of the albums that defined 2019, in a non-exhaustive, unranked list Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride Having completed a trilogy of sorts with the release of Modern Vampires of the City in 2013, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig confessed to needing a break from music. Amongst other things, Koenig wrote an animated show for Netflix called Neo Yokio that starred Jaden Smith and Jude Law...
Over the holiday break I had the unique pleasure of reviving a long-dead friendship. My friend and his family live an hour north of Toronto in a cozy, quaint town. Our interactions evolved in the natural way: beginning with typical, childish generalities before maturing and taking on an idiosyncratic friendship replete with ridiculous noise-gags and inside jokes. There was no predicting the...