Last weekend consisted of two big celebrations. On Friday there was a make your own pizza and cupcake party for Elyse's birthday. Great music, food, friends and Guitar Hero II
. Then on Sunday it was off to Hamilton for a family-in-law celebration for Canada Day (Canada's 140th birthday). Here I got the chance to meet Ericka's cousin and family who now live out near Edmonton, Alberta.
Since then it's pretty much been down to the grind mill, so to speak.

Look away now, if you are not my brother
Because you probably couldn't care less.
Here's a little self-indulgent bit for you: a list of things Jon digs very much at present...

Music





Film

Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye


Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes


This is a stunning documentary following the photographer Edward Burtynsky as he documents land degradation across China.

Good reads

Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts is one of the oddest short stories I've read.
The best art magazine out there is published in Finland.
Yep.
Framework is a very big and very clever (and very beautiful) bi-annual that enlightens politically as well as art(ally).

Considering my interest in the natural world, it's high time I told you what I've seen here that isn't resident in the UK, don't you think?
Good.

Striped skunk
Mephitis mephitis
whose odour can carry for almost 1km



Groudhog (or woodchuck)
Marmota monax
whose barking noise is unknown in function



Common raccoon
Procyon lotor
whose skin was not actually worn as a cap (called a coonskin cap) by Davy Crockett



Eastern chipmunk
Tamias striatus
who are a lot smaller than the cartoon would lead you to believe



Northern cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
whose amazingly loud song sounds like a car alarm



Blue Jay
Cyanocitta cristata
whose name is used by the Toronto major league baseball team



Red-winged blackbird
Agelaius phoeniceus
who when migrating fly in single-sex flocks



E and I have spent a few days in Hamilton, after an action-packed few days. Last Thursday Ericka's friends from New Zealand who form The Veils were in town for a show so we went along to that. Friday evening was good fun in the end, despite only about 70 people passing through the doors. Sunday we went back to Hamilton for a father's day BBQ at Ericka's uncle's place. Really good food and a heated pool went down nicely. Victor came along with us which was very cool.
In further news, I've been accepted to speak at the Glasgow conference I applied for. The best academia-related news though is that my brother is now officially a doctor. Well done, kid-o.

The past week brought about my first true small town Canadiana experience: a 'stag and doe' in Caledonia. This is a bit like the stag and hen nights we have in the UK, only they are combined and the explicit purpose is not to get the bride or the groom tied up to a lamppost in their underwear, it's to raise a little cash for the honeymoon in the shape of games and raffles (Ericka won a white baseball cap).
In a similar Jonathan's-becoming-a-little-more-Canadian, I've been avidly watching ice hockey as the Stanley Cup has been playing out (the equivalent of the F.A. cup in football, only teams from both Canada and the U.S. from the NHL are involved).
One of Ericka's cousins- Brian McGrattan- plays for the Ottawa Senators who made it through to the finals against the Anaheim Ducks, a team who were founded by the Walt Disney corp, based on the film The Mighty Ducks (Jean Baudrillard would have a field day on that one).
The finals are not a one-off affair, however. Instead they are a best of seven showdown. Alas the Ducks won four games to one in the end. It was an odd moment when, sitting in a bar watching the hockey, Ericka pointed out that England played football that day and I knew nothing of it (it turned out to be the 3-0 win over Estonia in a Euro 2008 qualifier).
Victor's work in the gallery is coming on leaps and bounds. In two nights he painted the whole room white and sanded down the wooden floors. It's looking beautiful. It's his birthday this weekend so he's hoping to get it in to a state fit enough for a big bash (with yours truly spinning some records). Ericka and I have been helping out here and there- admittedly E has done much more. I used my keep-the-cable-away-from-the-blade skills I learnt from helping my dad cut the lawn as a boy to great effect when the floor was stripped.
This past week I've been to see a few places in Toronto that I haven't seen before- my favourite being the Beaches which is to the south east of the downtown core. Nice hot sand.
This week I also managed to get a little bit arty- I'm putting on a club night again at the White Orchid next Friday...what do you think of my cut-and-paste poster?