Tour de France

Bicycles: The Ultimate Fusion of Man and Machine

This past weekend I rode my bicycle from Toronto to Niagara Falls with an overnight stop in Hamilton. It was a fantastic and challenging ride laden with long hills, steep declines, and wide open roads with escarpment views and vineyard smells. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and both literally and figuratively went by very quickly.

Riding my bike also got me thinking about just how amazing the bicycle actually is. Think about it. Could you walk from Toronto to Hamilton in a day? Sure you probably could, but how long would it take? Being generous I think it would take at least 10-12 hours including stops for food and rest. I suppose one could consult the Canterbury Tales to find an authority on long distance walks, but we'll save that for another time.

And this does go to the point of this short piece. The bicycle can take an average human being places in the length of time that someone on foot cannot. As such, I believe the bicycle to be the ultimate fusion of human and mechanics. On its own, a bicycle can go nowhere but with a person in the saddle, a bicycle can go for hundreds of kilometres with the very same power plant - the human body. This is why it, in my opinion, it also stands as one of the greatest inventions in human history.

I have attached a beautiful montage from the 2003 edition to the great and glorious Tour De France I found on Youtube. The film was taken for an IMAX film and the music is from the soundtrack of “A Beautiful Mind”. Enjoy!

"Tears in the Rain"

This is my favourite scene from my favourite movie and I had the fortune of seeing it (again) at the Bloor Cinema last Saturday. Just a little background, Blade Runner wasn’t initially well received by critics when it came out in 1982. However, opinions about this film have almost universally changed and just last year the American Film Institute ranked it the 97th greatest film of all time. Time magazine has it in the top 100 and the British film magazine Empire has called it the best sci-fi film ever made.

Personally, I just love it. The story, the music and sound, and the futuristic take of Los Angles in 2019 all make for an unparalleled movie experience. Having lived in Tokyo, I’m also one of the few people I know who has experienced such a similar environment. Noodle shops, dodgy back-ally merchants, and miles upon miles of concrete and steel all compose the cityscape of Japan’s largest city.

My favourite scene is the one I’ve posted. The overall plot revolves around “Bladerunner” Rick Deckard and his mission to 'retire' renegade androids or 'Replicants'. He manages to kill four of the five and finally corners their leader Roy Batty, a “Nexus-6” combat model, before Roy gets the better of his human antagonist.

In this climatic scene, Roy avenges the deaths of his fellow replicants by showing Deckard what it truly means to FEAR. Then, in a metamorphosis of sorts, he takes mercy on his foe and saves him with his superhuman strength. Finally, as he dies, he takes the last moments of his amazing existence to demonstrate the mistake of killing fellow sentients: "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe" he says. ‘You people’ not ‘you humans’. The Nexus-6 has become human and addressed Deckard as an equal.

This is, quite simply, masterful acting, directing and writing. I'm not sure when it's playing next or where, but you must go see it.

Why The Smiths Count

I’m going to begin this piece with a very subjective remark. Few musicians are as cool or as intelligent as Stephen Patrick Morrissey. His unique vocal styling, his hair, his flamboyance, his lyrical genius, stage-presence, and intelligence all make for one of the most spectacular musicians in popular culture today. Indeed, I am PROUD to call myself a fan. But despite Morrissey’s brilliance, I would argue that he is not as good now as he was when front man to the band called the Smiths. With guitarist Johnny Marr, Morrissey formed the key component of a musical team that was one of pop culture’s most potent, enduring and AWESOME groups. This short article will outline just who exactly the Smiths were and why I believe them to be important not just myself, but to so many fans around the world.

The Smiths burst onto the music scene in 1983 and soon became the embodiment of a back-to-basics English rock-and-roll that disappeared as punk-influenced ‘Indie’ music branched out and become more complex. Their euphonious debut album featured jangling guitars, a live rhythm-section (at a time when synthesizers and drum-machines were the new normal) and Morrissey’s clever, thoughtful and sometimes haunting lyrics. Even their name was also an attempt to get back-to-basics and steer away from long and pretentious sounding bands such as A Flock of Seagulls, Haircut 100, or Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark who had become a staple of the early and mid 1980s. Like their punk forebears from the 1970s, The Smiths addressed controversial issues such as the gruesome Moors Murders of the 1960s (Suffer Little Children); youth rivalry turned to adult hatred (You’ve Got Everything Now); and both corrupted and unrequited love (Miserable Lie and Pretty Girls Make Graves).

Building on the success of their first studio album came both Meat is Murder and a compilation album Hatful of Hallow in 1984. Meat is Murder featured hunting samples from a slaughterhouse (Meat is Murder) and again addressed mature themes such as domestic abuse and adolescent rivalry. However, likely the bands most lasting contribution to popular music is a track originally intended to be a B-Side called How Soon is Now? This song’s lyrical genius is matched only by the distinctive and mesmerizing guitars and its overall unique and uncompromising sound.

The next studio album was released in 1985 and is my personal favourite. Titled The Queen is Dead, it is considered by critics to be the band’s piece de resistance. Tracks like Frankly, Mr. Shankly level severe criticism at the hypocrisy of the music industry, while the title track addresses Morrissey’s long-time contempt for established hierarchical figures such as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. The album contains one of my favourite songs titled There is a Light that Never Goes Out. The title is a nod to James Dean and the lyrics follow a similar plot to the Dean film Rebel Without a Cause. Of course, for me, it means something entirely different!

The Smiths final studio album was fittingly named Strangeways, Here We Come. It was named after a prison in Manchester and has, what I feel, are the Smiths most jaded and melancholy lyrics. Not considered their greatest work by critics, both Morrissey and Marr disagree with this assessment. My favourite track is Paint a Vulgar Picture which like past songs attacks sleazy record executives looking to capitalise off the misfortunes of a young artist. Of course, whenever I hear this, I immediately think of the great Ian Curtis of Joy Division, but also think that new listeners to the Smiths will think of more contemporary yet tragically similar artists. Numerous compilation albums followed and Morrissey has produced a number of quality solo records well into the 21st century.

So why did I write this piece? Why write about a band that only released four studio albums and will probably never be remembered in the same way as those great English and American bands synonymous with Rock and Roll? Well, I wrote this because the Smiths ARE important. The Smiths gave a voice to those who in their youth didn't have one. They were the voice of the quiet, intelligent and thoughtful kids who valued their introspective nature and saw the worth in serious and intelligent consideration of the world around them. Certainly their music was catchy, fun and even boisterous at times, but it also spoke to issues that others in pop culture avoided entirely. The Smiths were the band that when you listened in the car with your folks, you wondered if they understood the seriousness and complexity of the lyrics. They were your band to tell the world that you were starting to understand it. That is why the Smiths count.

Riding the Bullet Train in Japan

Traveling on the bullet train in Japan is an amazing experience. It is a cross between traveling on an airplane and taking a normal train. In Japan, these trains are called the Shinkansen which roughly translates into New Trunk Line.

The Shinkansen is one part of an extensive Japanese travel network that graphs kilometers of highways, runways and rail track onto the society, economy and culture of Japan. It is used by thousands daily to travel the significant distances between larger Japanese centres and is the key transportation backbone for this remarkable Asian country.

The above photo it just one such example of a train arriving at station. Taken in Shin-Yokohama, this stop is situated along the important Tokiado line which connects Osaka to the west and Tokyo to the east. Tokyo and Osaka are not only the two largest and most important cities in Japan, they also anchor the regions of Kanto and Kansai respectively. These regions are the most populated in the country, but also form the historical, cultural, economic and demographic buttresses of the entire country. Between Kanto and Kansai also lie important cities such as Nagoya, a garrison town turned industrial centre, and Toyota the namesake of the automobile manufacturer.

On the Shinkansen you will find mostly businessmen and this is because of the convenience of this train. Unlike aircraft, which have to land in airports usually a distance from urban centres, the Shinkansen arrives downtown at the main train station. Of course, the train is not as fast as an airplane, but there are none of the negatives of air travel such as check-in time, taxi rides, baggage carousels, etc. Moreover, the Shinkansen is almost never late - the ride itself being timed down to the second.

An engineering marvel, the train moves slowly at first but gradually speeds up until the buildings, cars, rivers, and baseball fields of Japan start to move quickly by your window. Once outside the city the train accelerates to its maximum speed. The key to the convenience of the Shinkansen lies with the distance between stops. The less stops, the longer the top speed. The longer the top speed, the quicker the trip. because every metre of acceleration distance counts with this train. Another remarkable engineering feat is that the Shinkansen never crosses a road. There are no ‘ding-ding-ding’ railway crossings for this train, unlike most other trains around the world. If the Shinkansen has to cross a road it does so with a bridge.

So there you have it. A little reminiscing account of the Shinkansen of Japan. It is a remarkable feat of engineering and I encourage anyone visiting Japan to take a trip on it. You’ll be impressed for sure!

The Cold War: The Long Dispatch

Historians consider 1947 a watershed year in the history of American foreign policy. Going back to independence in 1776, the United States has long had a disposition away from ‘entangling alliances’ and towards isolationist-centred foreign policy. George Washington was unequivocal in his farewell address to the nation when he warned against these alliances, and over time, this became almost gospel to American policy makers. Of course, the United States participated in international affairs - the Barbary Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, the Great War, and the Second World War saw all America as an active force in pushing its interests abroad. But these was often because self-interest required it or because it was directly provoked. However in 1947 - two years after Hiroshima this changed.

By the end of the Second World War, it was apparent to the world that America now stood alone as the only remaining free-market and democratic superpower. It was also now clear that the once powerful ally of both the U.S. and its allies, the Soviet Union, was now an opponent. This was articulated by a foreign service officer and long-time expert on the Soviet Union, Mr. George Keenan when he wrote a now famous dispatch from his post in Moscow. Keenan’s words would make him a overnight sensation in the American capital and make it very clear as to what motivated the Soviets:

Soviet leaders are driven by necessities of their own past and present position to put forward a dogma which regards the outside world as evil, hostile and menacing. Basically this is only the steady advance of uneasy Russian nationalism, a centuries old movement in which conceptions of offence and defence are inextricably confused.

Territorial gains were simply a means to relieve the long standing sense of insecurity and fear the Soviet, and before them, the Tsarists, were long susceptible to. Indeed, it was in this fertile soil that Marxism flourished because of its very vehement and uncompromising view of ideological and economic conflict. Subsequently named the ‘Long Dispatch’ this memorandum was a contemporary Rosetta Stone for the the new Soviet opponent and became a key platform for future American foreign policy. This policy would subsequently be labeled ‘containment’ and give Democratic president Harry Truman his own foreign policy doctrine.


Next up: The Cold War: Enter the National Security Council

The Cold War: A Series

Few moments in the history of human conflict have been as defining as that of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945. In one instant, the entire world experienced the shocking and indisputable fact that the age of conventional warfare was gone. It was no longer a case were nations and civilizations were simply conquered and ruled. Indeed now, it was the entirely possible that the planet itself could be destroyed in the next great human conflict. Such was life in the Atomic Age.

But just as flowers and leaves do not appear overnight after the first day of spring, things in warfare and geopolitics did not change instantly after Hiroshima either. Indeed, as defining as these nuclear attacks were, it would be a some eventful years between the Second World War and the dawn of the Cold War. The following blog articles will examine some of the key policies, events and people that laid the groundwork for the amazing ideological and political struggle that became known as the Cold War. I hope you enjoy them.

What's in a Name?

Have you ever wondered where the nickname ‘Tory’ comes from? It is actually very interesting and goes back over three hundred years. In England during the middle 1600s, the King and his Parliament were at loggerheads. King Charles I believed he should have power like a centralized European monarch. Opposed to the king were those who believed Parliament had clearly defined rights, especially when it came to taxes. Eventually, there would be war between the King and this vocal parliamentary opposition, and in 1649, after losing, Charles was tried (see below) and lost his head.

But England would be without a king for less than two decades. In 1660, Charles II, the son of his disposed father, was restored to the throne albeit with more limited powers. Those who supported a more constitutional monarchy were insulted as ‘Whigs’ after the Scot-Gaelic whiggamor, meaning cattle driver. The more royalist faction were themselves labeled ‘Tories’ after the Irish word tóir meaning bandit or outlaw. Eventually these insults were embraced and there would Tory factions in Westminster from the 1670s until they modernized as Conservatives in the late 1850s.

In eighteenth century North America, the word Tory would again become an insult. As the 13 colonies matured and became agitated about their status as English without representation, the Tory moniker re-emerged. Once war erupted supporters of independence labeled those who supported the Crown; Tories. In due course, many of these Tories would travel north as Loyalists and found English-speaking Canada.

In Canada, Tory would come to mean something similar to that of Britain. The modern origins of our party traces itself to the 1854 alliance between ‘Les Bleus’ in Canada East (Quebec) and British-model Tories in Canada West (Ontario). This party was that of a young visionary named John Alexander MacDonald and, of course, we all know how that story turned out.