Comments on: Heart-Shaped Boxes in Your Datebook (Victo, Ubu and more)

By: pao

pao — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:23:23 +0000

re: atonement and celebration
We know we should repair the damage we inflict on others as soon as possible. Atonement shouldn’t be a religious, or special-day “to-do”.

I guess I’m thinking there should be a more positive, no-cards-allowed, generic day to celebrate. A day of no-noise, or a day of walking, or a day of shaking hands.

By: zoilus

zoilus — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 20:15:03 +0000

“New Year’s Eve is like Halloween for adults: a night with no limits on what can or should happen.”

See, in my world that night is, rather too frequently, simply known as “Saturday.” So when that element comes so far to the forefront, it, again, just feels like a grotesque excess. However, I don’t mean that I don’t like NYE: I’ve discovered that, as you say, it really depends on that hug with loved ones at midnight. So I’m a convert to the more intimate version of NYE. Rather than “Halloween for adults,” I like to think of it as “Christmas for friends” - since actual-xmas is dominated, for me, by blood family, NYE becomes a day to appreciate the ‘chosen’ family. And then it does become a good party, just not an especially hard-partying party.

By: Mike W

Mike W — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:17:11 +0000

I never understood this insistence that New Year’s Eve is bound to disappoint. If you like to party any other night of the year, what’s not to like about the one night of the year when EVERYONE is partying? The streets come alive, the city is happy. As long as you don’t make rookie mistakes like going to Richmond St. or trying to hit a dozen parties - and as a veteran partier, you know better - New Year’s Eve is like Halloween for adults: a night with no limits on what can or should happen. Be with your friends somewhere you enjoy with music you like and New Year’s Eve can be the highlight of the holiday party season. My favourite part is hugging and kissing of friends at midnight; you have to be dead inside not to feel good then.

By: DW.

DW. — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:25:05 +0000

> but as an ex-Catholic I don’t recall ever feeling that Good Friday was when I had to take stock of my actions of the past year and account for them in some way.

Word. I’m an ex-Catholic too, and I also never got that out of Good Friday. And the thing about confession is that it’s between you and your God (and the priest, I guess), whereas a more secular atoneoment ritual would make you get yourself right with the world around you.

By: zoilus

zoilus — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:37:00 +0000

Yeah, Kate, I should be careful about those “we” statements - obvs there are people in North America who do have a day of atonement, but it’s not taken up by the culture at large as a public occasion. And by that I mean Yom Kippur - perhaps for really hardcore Catholics there’s more of an atonement vibe to Good Friday, and I certainly realize that there’s some of that theme to the day and even to Lent overall, but as an ex-Catholic I don’t recall ever feeling that Good Friday was when I had to take stock of my actions of the past year and account for them in some way. In part this is because Catholicism has confession, an ongoing process of doing the same thing, which has its plusses but is not the same thing in formal character - and yes, I agree, does not focus on “repairing relationships” the way that I think a day of atonement encourages.

By: BF Mowat

BF Mowat — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:36:09 +0000

Because I care. A LOT…and we share the same view of thanksgiving…albeit mine is always coloured by the fact my birf-day is celebrated on that weekend.

http://www.gorillamask.net/lamour.shtml

PS How do you feel about Flag Day becoming a holiday?

By: kate

kate — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:49:31 +0000

re: atonement. i know it’s obvious that christianity and judaism have good friday and yom kippur, but coincidentally i have been thinking about those. i’m starting to think of them as the more useful flipside of a holiday that’s supposedly about love.

my awkward position as a momentarily non-practicing Catholic was jostled again the other day by a friend’s description of gory crucifixes on a trip to Brazil. To me, that kind of heavy imagery doesn’t rustle up a great deal of empty guilt or fear, but something more oppressively weighty that is for sure keeping me from darkening the door of a church. It’s the painful feeling of being loved so uniquely and inescapably that drives me to distraction. I’d kind of rather tune it out. I’m not having much success!

For me, a holiday of atonement would be about repairing relationships because we realize how it is impossible to run away from love. Otherwise why bother apologizing for anything?
I think that making up to a loved one might be one of the most literally, & positively, humiliating things we can do. Obviously for a deist that atonement/love situation is even more unfortunate, because there’s that goddamned omnipresent being to contend with. what an effing hassle!

no wonder i spend so much time lying down.

hey carl! remember when we first met and i was singing that unbearable song about the crucifixion! YEAH! how bad was this first post in comparison?

yeeeeeesh.

By: Simon Roy

Simon Roy — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 04:26:09 +0000

Thanks for the link, I will take a vacation and buy the all-access pass this year. I’ll try to catch as many shows as I can at the FIMAV.

By: DW.

DW. — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:02:14 +0000

We should totally have a day of atonement. That’s a holiday I could get behind.

By: john

john — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 06:09:42 +0000

forgot to add: “Pen nibs” is much sexier & more flirtatious than “graphical stylus.”

and . . . I see now that you said “90%” for rhetorical exaggeration. whoops. sorry.