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It's an absurd and totally avoidable situation, and the trumpet player has made no effort to resolve it (and he did come to the scene second), so I really don't have any sympathy for him. This doesn't really matter for session players, though it can still lead to confusion, but I don't think it is right for two headliners to be using the same name.

I'm not doing too much at the Toronto International Jazz Fest. However, I did go see the Avishai Cohen Trio, who were quite good. (This is the more famous bass playing Cohen -- apparently there is also a trumpet player by the same name...) They are playing Montreal tomorrow (or Sat.) if I am not mistaken. I guess I'm just a bit cranky at the moment, but these two now have a lot of recordings and they get all jumbled up. Would it really have been too much to ask the newer artist on the scene (the trumpet player) to come up with a different name or use an initial or something? It doesn't serve anyone's purpose to not be able to tell the two apart -- especially on digital downloads where the instruments aren't listed! Out of principle, I am going to ignore the trumpet player and his recordings.

Yeah, that I would go to -- or the music of Benny Golson.

I'm fairly sure that was intentional -- that she wanted to write a thriller (rather than a psychological thriller like Alias Grace). I recall that a fairly recent work (The Penelopiad) had quite a bit of depth to it. I do think she was inspired by eXistenZ where characterizations are tissue-thin.

I just finished Margaret Atwood's The Heart Goes Last, which is sort of a SF thriller in a near-future where the economy of the U.S. Rust Belt has completely collapsed. To try to find some sort of stability, the couple at the heart of this novel sign up for an experimental town where everyone spends one month in a suburban-type house and then the alternate month as a prisoner. As if this weren't enough, there is more double-dealing throughout the novel. It was quite entertaining, I must admit. There are perhaps a few nods to The Prisoner, though I thought thematically, it reminded me more of eXistenZ. Also reading Blackass by A. Igonibo Barrett. The novel is inspired by Kafka's Metamorphosis, though in this case a Nigerian man is transformed into a white man on the morning he is to go off on a critical job interview. Apparently, the only part of his body that is still black is his posterior (hence the title). I like the writing style and the pacing so far, so I expect this is a case where the conceit enhances rather than detracts from the overall novel. I've also gotten 3/5 of the way through Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle.

I would never have expected the season to end the way it just did, though probably the Warriors lost game 5 due to Green's suspension. He is definitely going to have to find a way to play with passion but not quite so out of control, since it arguably cost his team the title.

I finished up Edgar Mittelholzer's A Morning at the Office. It was ok, though not quite as amazing as some of the reviews had made out. I don't think it could quite decide between being a sociology (or anthropology) tract and a novel... I'm quite disenchanted with Savyon Liebrecht's A Good Place for the Night and am on the point of abandoning it. In addition to being extremely downbeat -- not one but two stories feature the murder of young woman -- I don't know that I have ever come across a book written by a woman that so thoroughly fails the Bechdel Test. There does not appear to be a single female character that isn't spending her entire time fretting about her husband or boyfriend.

Feel free to merge if I just missed this, but I didn't see another thread. Gordie Howe has passed away at the age of 88. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/gordie-howe-1.3628425 Perhaps not surprisingly this news is generating a lot more headlines in Canada (and Michigan) than in the rest of the US. He had been recovering from a recent stroke, with some success, but it seems the toll was just too much for him. I really wasn't following hockey during his glory years; in fact I wasn't alive when he was winning the Stanley Cup in the 50s. Almost everyone would agree he was in the top 5 NHL players of all time and definitely the greatest player for the Detroit Red Wings. From all accounts, he was a really nice guy off the ice, but someone you just didn't want to face off against on the ice. RIP

I didn't make it in the Fringe lottery, but I did have a piece in a local cold reading series and have submitted several more. I'm just back from a very effective play called Instructions (to Any Future Socialist Government Wishing to Abolish Christmas) by Michael Mackenzie. The best way to describe it is watching a hedge fund manager circa 2008 brought to his knees (literally). So it is rewarding in that respect. Mackenzie knows how to draw on Greek tragedy, but I've probably already said too much. I also saw Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, which I've been intending to see for a long time. The production was incredible.

I don't think this has been mentioned before - Dutoit The Montreal Years (Decca) 35 CDs - most but not all of Dutoit's recordings with the OSM on Decca. It's going for about $75 US on Amazon and about $100 Can on Amazon.ca http://www.amazon.com/Montreal-Years-35-Box-Set/dp/B017V92WX0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464949620&sr=8-1&keywords=dutoit+decca In this case, I am going to pass, as there were really only a few performances that caught my eye, and I can pick and choose from them. Also, our library has a lot of these. There are a few other relatively recent box sets where the Canadian price is actually the bargain, particularly when currency exchange rates are considered. I'm about to place an order for Yuri Bashmet Complete RCA Recordings https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01B17C4LI/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=17IN2YRCH3JCX&coliid=I3D9VGQ491KI9F I'll probably order the Malcolm Arnold Complete Conifer Recordings (Vernon Handley is the one conducting all the symphonies on this set) https://www.amazon.ca/Sir-Malcolm-Arnold-Complete-Recordings/dp/B01B17C4TK/ref=pd_cp_15_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=5TCD58NVR5MEJ8HJE4M7 I'm quite torn on the Andre Previn Conducts Vaughan Williams, as I literally am missing only one disc from the set (Symphony #5 and Tuba Concerto), but I'll probably succumb just to consolidate the other discs and save some shelf space. https://www.amazon.ca/Conducts-Vaughan-Williams-Symphonies-Concerto/dp/B019STIIHA/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1464950168&sr=1-1&keywords=previn+vaughan+williams I've got most of these Hilary Hahn Sony CDs, so I'll pass, but it's still a pretty good deal: https://www.amazon.ca/Hilary-Hahn-Complete-Sony-Recordings/dp/B0129YC7NC/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1464950283&sr=1-1&keywords=hilary+hahn

Still working through Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle, but it is pretty slow going. I'm also reading Brigid Brophy's In Transit, about a traveler stuck in an airport. Like O'Brien's Night, it is another book clearly inspired by Joyce and other High Modernists. It tries to dabble in absurdity, perhaps a bit like Flann O'Brien, but it tries too hard. There is a 10 page section where the narrator forgets what sex he/she is, which doesn't work at all. I suppose I might change my mind, but for the moment it is not recommended.

That is certainly a truism, but not true in my case. I still rate Dostoevsky and also Turgenev above Tolstoy. Demons is definitely an under-rated novel in my opinion. I didn't mind the Garnett translation of Crime and Punishment but didn't have much to compare to (in my teens). I will be tackling Crime and Punishment in the P&V translation (and probably comparing to Garnett) in a year or so. I don't remember the epilogue, but I'm looking forward to it.

I have to admit, this looked a bit like spam (spam, spam, spam, spam, spam!), but Towel Day is legit (if a lot more celebrated in the UK than the US). I actually had a towel with me all day today, but probably won't have room in my bag tomorrow. I may have to settle for a washcloth. I actually introduced my son to Hitchhiker's Guide this spring, and he certainly enjoyed it. I'm trying to find a bit of time to start rereading it myself.

This year I could definitely have used a time machine to place some bets on these crazy finals. Thunder up 3-1. No way would I believe that! I wouldn't have believed the Raptors would tie the Cavs either. I suspect the Cavs will still move on, though maybe it will take all 7 games. It's looking like Golden State is completely rattled, and I am having a lot of trouble believing they will prevail. Anyway, with said time machine, I'd also like to lay out some money on Leicester City and maybe the Republican nomination race as well.

Well, sure if you pledge not to prosecute a case and then get someone to waive their 5th Amendment rights and another prosecutor tears up the deal, you probably can make a case. I know it sounds like I am a Cosby apologist, but this is totally shabby, and will almost certainly be reversed upon appeal, if Cosby is actually convicted.

Saw High Rise on Saturday. I liked some aspects of it. Other aspects were messy or even incoherent. I totally lost why they broke into an apartment on the 27th floor when none of the characters (at least that I recall) lived there. It was pretty astounding that one can of paint covered a two or three room apartment and so evenly considering the walls were raw concrete ... I think that they did do a reasonable job of capturing the tone of the book. Now whether the book was actually such a stone-cold classic that it needed to be made into a movie is another question. Anyway, just a huge number of films coming up at TIFF - a combined Hitchcock/Truffaut retrospective and an Eric Rohmer retrospective through the summer and early fall. I'll have to pick and choose, trying to focus on films that aren't easily available or that I really, really want to see.

They eventually go to the computer, but the problem is that the scan size is set on the machine. I've figured out a few options, but for a book that is 8.8 x 11.5 (and quite a few books are just slightly over letter size), you have to scan it as B4 and then ask it to crop the figure, and then you probably need to erase some of the margins, etc. When with the Xerox, you just type in 8.8 x 11.5. It's not just the fiddling with the settings, but it takes 3 times as long (since B4 is huge) and is extremely wasteful of electricity. (The file size is also too large, though that is less of an issue.) I'm super annoyed, as there doesn't appear to be any way around this. It's definitely a lot slower scanner. I'm hoping that there are lots of other complaints and that the contract is broken, though that is unlikely. I will make a note if I move high enough up the foodchain here that there will be no more HP machines ever!

This is probably a bit esoteric, but my workplace just switched over from Xerox to HP printers or rather all-in-one printers, since they also scan and could theoretically be used to fax as well. I actually do a lot of scanning, and often am working with irregular sizes (like 10.2 inch x 11.4 inch for example). Xerox has an extended menu where you can set the image size to the 0.1 inch, so essentially total control over scan size. As far as I can tell, HP (or rather the HP 880) only allows a bunch of pre-set sizes, like 8.5 x 11, legal, A3, A4, A5, B3, etc. I think you are supposed to then set it to crop the rest of the space out, but it doesn't work at all. It's a total nightmare. Has anyone encountered this and have a solution? Or is there no solution, which is my great fear? The manual is completely unhelpful, spending the entire time discussing how to add addresses to the CC or BCC fields, and not once discussing the details of page size (or even the difference between PDF, TIFF and MTIFF). Based on my experience (now and in the past), I would never get another one of these HP all-in-one machines, but sadly it is not my decision to make. Any help would be appreciated.

It's definitely last team standing with Heat vs. Raptors. I'm surprisingly indifferent to the whole thing, since they are both so banged up that the Cavs will have no problem getting past either of them. While the Raptors have finally become an above average team, I have severe doubts about the coach and think they really will need to replace him to genuinely move to the next level and remain there consistently. Completely flabbergasted that the Thunder beat the Spurs 4-1. Like many, I did not see that coming!

Almost done with Einstein's relativity (the first book made me feel smarter -- the second one the reverse... ) I'm also reading a short novel by Edna O'Brien -- Night. Quite enjoyable if one likes High Modernism. Definitely feels influenced by Molly Bloom in Ulysses, as well as Doctor O'Connor in Djuna Barnes' Nightwood. I think this was a bit of a departure for O'Brien, but I'm enjoying it.

I was hoping to get a small lightbulb and the wiring (like one would have in an old electronics kit) and they had nothing remotely like that (this was about a week ago at the Source). The closest was some cord splitters. There just aren't that many electronics hobbyists any longer.

If you go through the comments on the CNET article, you will find quite a number of people who have had files deleted and quite a few that have had their files over-written with Apple's versions of files (which then they lose when they stop subscribing to the service). Or maybe they just lost access to their original Mac, which happened in some cases. You can choose to not believe any of them or believe that they are all idiots that clicked delete on thousands of files, if it makes you happier or more secure. I think it is fully possible that in some settings of the software, Apple and certainly MS Windows in general, can delete files. I certainly saw Windows Media Player change file names and associations on files I had ripped with the software (undoing my special edits when the master information on-line was wrong, thus effectively putting the wrong information back onto the files). I had trouble believing that even after I moved ripped files to other hard drives, the file associations would keep updating to the wrong information. It certainly looked pretty "magical" in what it was doing. System software does delete files frequently (temporary files mostly), as well as virus checking software (which can both delete and quarantine files depending upon the settings). In some cases, it can literally change the path name to put it into the recycle bin. Windows Explorer could be set to not display file names of offending files (I do think this is something Microsoft will unroll some day). So much happens under the hood of system software and software with broad reach (like many Apple software solutions) that I find blanket statements like "it never deletes files" to be generally untrue.

It is the internet, so it's pretty hard to know who or what to trust. My reading of his comment was that it did happen to him and he was warning others. I thought that his "just warning" others was modifying the fact he was not taking legal action, like some may have been urging him to do (not modifying the fact that files were deleted). I fully believe that Apple and Microsoft have the ability to delete things off the hard drive. (And didn't they delete 1984 off a bunch of Kindles?) I am quite convinced that there will be a flavor of Microsoft Windows (one day, not today) that will go through one's hard drive and delete files that have been downloaded from torrents. This case (if it actually did happen) may well be user error as well as a lot of bad system design, but it is quite clear that these programs are not at all clear about how they are operating and are a lot more invasive than most people realize.

I have to say, I believe the original report far more than the "clarification." The number of fanboys in the comments in the second piece that flat out deny there could be any problems associated with using Apple is a bit worrying.

There are plenty of days that I find Windows Media Player too intrusive (renaming albums sometimes after I've ripped the files) and I pretty much only use it for pop CDs and use FreeRip for everything else. I'm quite glad I haven't ever granted any of these services access to my hard drive. I had no intention of signing up for Apple Music anyway, but if this report above turns out to be true, then clearly no one should!!!