TJ Dawe
TJ is a Vancouver based writer, performer and director of new theatre pieces. He's participated in ninety or so theatre and comedy festivals in Canada, the US, Australia and the UK. He has six published plays and a humour book. He's also interested in movies, literature, television, comic books, history, science, spirituality, tai chi, technology, food and the Enneagram. He generally juggles a dozen projects at a time. He thinks more people should read the books of Barbara Ehrenreich, Gabor Mate, David Mitchell, Dan Savage, Mark Kurlansky, Miriam Toews and Brian Michael Bendis.
Website URL: http://www.tjdawe.ca
Wednesday, 06 April 2011 22:25
The Paintings of Andrew "Shay" Hahn
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Andrew "Shay" Hahn is a Toronto based painter. Here are five of his paintings, with script by the painter himself on his approach to what he does.
Published in
Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
Thursday, 31 March 2011 20:34
Someone's Paying Right Wing Trolls
I've long wondered how the people who live to spout shit and stir up blockheaded arguments in the comments sections of social media find the time to do what they do, much less the energy. Here's an answer to explain at least some of them: it's their job.
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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Tuesday, 29 March 2011 17:07
The Wire as an Obscure Victorian Novel
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AÂ brilliant bit of... satire? Scholarship? Hard to categorize. But a couple of very clever writers wrote this piece, as if the HBO show The Wire were actually an unjustly obscure Victorian novel.
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
Sunday, 20 March 2011 00:11
Saturday Night Jukebox: Can You Post a Gayer 80s Video Than This?
A look back at 80s music videos reveals a gay culture that was far more out than many seemed to recognize at the time, despite widespread homophobia. A short stroll through the last thirty years of music and culture reveals a rapidly changing cultural relationship to homosexuality.
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Published in
Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
Friday, 18 March 2011 20:32
Totem Figures Interview with John Showman
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John Showman is a fiddler conversant in bluegrass, folk, country, pop, classical, you name it. He talks about the various teachers and artists who inspired him to play the instrument.
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Beams & Struts - Podcasts
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Wednesday, 16 March 2011 22:59
The Great Postmodern Sport of Indoor Climbing
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Indoor climbing emerged in the 90s and is growing in popularity. It's different from most sports and fitness activities in a lot of ways that can summed up with a simple description: it's postmodern.
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Tuesday, 22 February 2011 17:28
Literary Excerpt: Vivid Descriptions of Italian Food
Writing guaranteed to make you hungry.Â
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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Thursday, 17 February 2011 04:40
Gabor Mate on Addiction
Some excerpts from Dr. Mate's book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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Wednesday, 16 February 2011 00:47
Three-ness Gone Wild! Success and Achievement as America's Top Values
Barbara Ehrenreich's book Brightsided analyzes America's obsession with success and positivity. This coincides with the Enneagram personality system's type Three: the Achiever. So what happens when one type's values dominate a culture?
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Saturday, 12 February 2011 15:57
Positive Thinking Won't Save Us - In Fact, It Might Kill Us
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In her book Brightsided, Barbara Ehrenreich criticizes the belief that we can control the universe with our thoughts. When that kind of regression sweeps a culture, it's time for a little rational thinking before the ship sinks with all aboard clenching their eyes shut and concentrating on positive results.
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Monday, 31 January 2011 02:14
Levels & Lines, Dancers & Warriors
Watch Stalin's troops dance like you wouldn't believe. Set to Run DMC.Â
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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Sunday, 23 January 2011 20:49
The Fugue Fugue
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Living in the information age has most of us doing mental juggling routines as a matter of course. Can we handle it? Are we getting more distracted and fragmented? Or is this good exercise for us? Have we long had an underfed capacity for complexity that’s only now being regularly fertilized?
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Published in
Beams & Struts - The Workshop : Long Form Essays
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Tuesday, 18 January 2011 01:48
Why You Should Know Your Enneagram Personality Type
Our culture trumpets certain personality traits and discourages others. But are those standards absolute or relative? How would our society look if we accepted the rightness of there being essential differences between our various points of view? At the same time, it would bond us to know how strongly similar so many of us are.
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Published in
Beams & Struts - The Workshop : Long Form Essays
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Thursday, 30 December 2010 00:29
Jeff Bridges, Tron and the Enneagram
Which type is Jeff Bridges? Which type is his character in Tron? My guess for both: Seven, the Enthusiast.Â
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Wednesday, 22 December 2010 17:38
Who Wrote the Works of Shakespeare?
Is the authorship question worth investigating?
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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Tuesday, 21 December 2010 00:41
Stuff White People Like: the Satire of Postmodernists
The popular blog skewers the postmodern patting onself on the back beautifully, and hilariously.Â
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Monday, 13 December 2010 01:46
Fuck Christmas Plays
There's lousy, boring, predictable, commercial theatre all Christmas season.Â
Monday, 13 December 2010 01:13
Balls - Let There Be MORE Christmas Plays!
There's plenty of inventive, original, worthwhile theatre inspired by the Christmas season.Â
Tuesday, 07 December 2010 16:57
Literary Excerpt: On the Value of Rereading, by Zadie Smith
Few reread, but here's a good reason why we should.Â
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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Friday, 03 December 2010 16:28
Recipe for Kale Chips
Kale Chips - the least likely snack you'd expect to be 100% goddam delicious
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Beams & Struts - Bricolage: Daily Bits & Pieces
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