On Monday night we went for dinner at L’Artista in Burnaby. The atmosphere is resolutely “old school” and the food is outstanding Italian comfort fare balanced between pasta options & meat-forward entrees. The owner, who hails from Calabria, was present too.

This week I’m reading neurologist Pria Anand’s debut book The Mind Electric. It features a number of clinical tales reminiscent of the work of the late Oliver Sacks.

The Byrds’ recording of Goin’ Back is a small masterpiece on (what I think is) their best album. Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s song about the loss of childhood innocence is given a great arrangement with ethereal harmonies. youtu.be/i849OKrpPms?...

The late Vancouver artist Jack Shadbolt painted this work, Waterfront City, in 1985.

I’m reading Scott McIntyre’s great memoir of his life in the Canadian publishing world. 🇨🇦

Throwback Thursday: me inside Galleries Lafayette department store in Paris, 2011.

A friend is recommending Mrs Dalloway; I haven’t yet read it. Have you read it @stuckinabook.bsky.social @hogglestock.bsky.social …?

This week I’m reading Anthony Gottlieb’s excellent new biography of Ludwig Wittgenstein.

I’m currently reading Matthew Fox’s This is It: A Novel in Stories. 🇨🇦

Afternoon scenes at East Cafe today.

It’s the end of an era: the Park Theatre, built in 1942 and Vancouver’s last remaining single-screen movie theatre, will be closed by its corporate parent (Cineplex) after this weekend.

More autumn colour in East Vancouver (pics taken by me this week).

Lou Reed: I never got to meet you or see you in concert, but you are missed.

I became familiar with John Mellencamp as a painter back in the 1990s. This work, A Man and a Woman, evokes early 20th century expressionism and (perhaps) the angularity of El Greco, but the vision is Mellencamp’s own.

Halloween is next week, and this 1968 Leonora Carrington painting (The Ancestor) evokes the occasion!

Miles Davis’ “Footprints” from 1967’s Miles Smiles LP is brilliant: epic solos, polyrhythms, & great melodies. The band, aka the Second Great Quintet, is peerless: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, and Ron Carter. youtu.be/O-rrt8IYhe0?...

A fall scene at Aberdeen Park in Vancouver (pic taken by me today).

Celeste Marcus is publishing a new biography of Chaim Soutine later this month. He’s lesser known than his contemporaries but perhaps the book will help to change that; he challenged conventional notions of beauty. View of Ceret, C. Soutine, 1921

many experiences make vancouver feel like a much bigger city than it actually is - like taking skytrain at rush hour. automation is a key reason a NA region w the population of minneapolis or denver can support a train every 1-2 minutes, something you'd expect in new york, toronto, or mexico city

I saw this on the community bulletin board yesterday at the 8th Ave Milano Coffee Roasters. If you were ever worried that grief groups only support the ugly, unattractive, or average-looking crowds, this group is for you! (/sarcasm)

Man Ray’s 1929 photo Woman With Long Hair defied the usual strictures around portrait photograph.

I have an appointment next week for Covid and Flu shots and I will get the shingles vaccine the following week. I am grateful to the scientists, doctors, pharma companies, and others who make these small miracles available to us!

I took these pictures in and around Aberdeen Park today; Autumn is my favourite season.

I love the photos of Richard Avedon; this is one of his images of Jimmy Carter in 1976.

This week I’m reading The Dead Sea: A 10,000 Year History by Nir Arielli.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful do so many things: life, family, friends, personal growth, the opportunity to live in 🇨🇦… And although I’m not Israeli or Jewish, I’m also thrilled by peace in 🇮🇱/Gaza & grateful for the return of all living hostages to 🇮🇱.

Fred Herzog took amazing photographs of Vancouver. This is #1 in a series of 2 colour pictures taken at Hastings and Columbia, in Chinatown, in 1958.

Two years after Gaucho came Donald Fagen’s solo album The Nightfly. First single I.G.Y reflects the techno-optimism in the air during his New Jersey childhood circa 1957-58. youtu.be/rOQUzrhTBgw?...

Trump is alleging that Biden controlled the FBI about 2 weeks before Biden became president & hid agents in the Jan 6 crowd. Not even Cher could turn back time! Remember: internal coherence is not a prerequisite for a conspiracy theory.

I found out that one of my friends is visiting Israel right now to rendezvous with friends he met during his 9 months living there. I can only imagine the excitement in the air right now in advance of peace & hostage return! I’m hopeful for a rebuild of Gaza & an enduring peace.

I have the utmost respect for Steely Dan and the jazz-rock fusion they created. “Gaucho” was controversial for its ‘borrowing’ of a Keith Jarrett melody, but Jarrett got most of the royalties and it’s a great song. youtu.be/GesEA9MJuII?...

This weekend I’m reading Adam Haslett’s novel Mothers and Sons.

Cities are developing a new approach to developing housing: Integrating it into mixed-use library projects. These investments improve neighborhood vitality, add housing & improve services. In new research @urbaninstitute.bsky.social, I create a database of such projects & point to success stories ⏬

The 2025 #Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced tomorrow! My favoured pics to win: Margaret Atwood (Canada) Haruki Murakami (Japan) Other possibilities: George Saunders (US) Anne Barest (France)

usa.streetsblog.org/2025/09/30/m... This article, which emphasizes the relative safety (low crash rates) and security (low crime rates)of public transit compared to driving, is based on my research (www.vtpi.org/safer.pdf). What do you think.Can we overcome unjustified fears of transit travel?

I volunteered with Lori Cannon at her organization that provided food to ppl living with HIV and AIDS in Chicago back in 2003-2005. She lived an amazing life of service and tikkun olam. I didn’t know she had died; may her memory be a blessing. rebeccamakkai.substack.com/p/we-needed-...

Wow! Two of the universities I graduated from have football programs in the AP Top 25 this week.

The 2025 Giller Prize shortlist has been announced! Congrats to the 5 shortlisted authors. gillerprize.ca/2025-finalis...

I took this picture from Metrotown Station today. The weather in the #Vancouver area has been stellar.

I had the 1-piece halibut and chips small plate for lunch at Cockney Kings in New Westminster. It’s a perfect (for me) Sunday lunch!

It’s been a quiet, restful, and cool Saturday for me in Vancouver.

This weekend I’m reading Stephen Greenblatt’s new biography of Christopher Marlowe. We are all lucky not to be living in Elizabethan-era England!

In 2009 I took this picture of one of the Olympic Mountains in WA from the road between Victoria and Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. Digital photography has improved since then; the natural world has not (glaciers threatened by climate change).

Thanksgiving is just over a week away. I am grateful for the people who have helped me along the way in life: family, friends, and others.

The Police released Synchronicity in 1983: it was their most successful LP in terms of sales and (I think) artistic achievement. I heard “King of Pain” often on the radio growing up: this breakup song embraces harmonic complexity & vivid imagery. youtu.be/tFN5DveQH0o?...

Throwback Thursday: I took a picture of this tram in central Zurich in June 2018.

I’m currently reading Judith Kalman’s memoir of the Oskar Gröning trial. It is well-written and includes significant background on her family and life before the trial.

Today is Yom Kippur, a sacred day for the #Jewish ppl. I am saddened by the attack at a Manchester shul today. I hope our politicians in 🇨🇦 take more actions to ensure safety. I will reach out to Jewish friends this evening (post-fast); I encourage everyone to stand as allies.

Today is a stat holiday: the National Day For Truth and Reconciliation. I had a successful outpatient surgery just before noon, and now I’m having coffee downtown.

Is it just me, or does this Bob Dylan painting include a self-portrait in the figure at left? In any case, I prefer this work to the painting he used on the cover of the 1970 Self Portrait album.