Category Archives: Sports

Lessons of the Paralympics

Posted on March 9, 2022 by barczablog

As usual I’ve been watching tv with my mom when I visit her to bring her lunch and dinner. During the Winter Olympics she would sometimes get up in the night to watch opening or closing ceremonies, given the time … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Health and Nutrition, My mother, Personal ruminations & essays, Sports | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Missing church

Posted on January 1, 2022 by barczablog

The last thing I posted had the word “missing” in the title. A few days ago I wrote a rambly thing as I thought about a canceled show and one of its canceled performers, pushed off the stage by contagious … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, domestic & wild, Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, My mother, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Missing Greg

Posted on December 26, 2021 by barczablog

In the final week of 2021 I ponder the year that’s passed and contemplate the one that lies ahead. We all may have something we miss doing, something or someone that we wish we could see or hear. Re-reading Dickens’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Spirituality & Religion, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Beethoven 250: interpreting Sonata #9

Posted on November 14, 2020 by barczablog

There are at least two ways to understand music. We listen. Perhaps you hear a performance on some device such as your smartphone, your TV or a computer, or even in a live setting such as a concert or a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Popular music & culture, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Debating debates

Posted on October 9, 2020 by barczablog

Is it time to re-think debates? We have lived for quite a long time in a culture here in the western world, where the consensus is often unspoken. While there may have been something friendly & cordial in our past, … Continue reading →

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Whither Canadian Opera Company: after Neef

Posted on June 11, 2020 by barczablog

Did you know? The first ever Monty Python episode was titled Whither Canada. I suspect it’s a title meant to invoke the sort of bland but innocent British documentary we see here in Canada as “Hinterland Who’s Who” or “Heritage … Continue reading →

Posted in Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Sports | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

“If you build it they will come” revisited, or Field of Dreams in 2020

Posted on June 3, 2020 by barczablog

I was looking for an uplifting bit of escapism. Field of Dreams is a film that I’ve always loved. It still moved me when I saw it this weekend but now in a totally new way. One of the small … Continue reading →

Posted in Books & Literature, Cinema, video & DVDs, Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Popular music & culture, Spirituality & Religion, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

TSO & Gimeno: a question of leadership

Posted on June 29, 2019 by barczablog

Tonight was the first concert in the Toronto Symphony’s last weekend of the season, giving us a glimpse of their new music director Gustavo Gimeno. Will he come to be known as GG? While last week’s concert with Donald Runnicles … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I hate shoot-outs

Posted on February 23, 2018 by barczablog

Yes I hate shoot-outs, those contrived rituals to determine the outcome of a game.  While they are full of drama, I detest them, because they are an alternative way of resolving the outcome of a game that in someone’s opinion … Continue reading →

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Intense Bluffing in Scarborough

Posted on June 29, 2017 by barczablog

Tonight was a public hearing, a chance to see what the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority will do with the waterfront in Scarborough over the next few years, and an opportunity for the TRCA to get the feedback of community members, … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal ruminations & essays, Politics, Sports | Leave a comment