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Pucks and pages: A reading list for the NHL playoffs
The NHL playoffs start this week, and will continue throughout the spring and into early summer. With hockey on TV every night between now and June, why not pair the nights’ games with some good hockey reads? We’ve matched each round of the postseason with one of the best books on the sport, creating an…
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Musical hockey, the dark side of kitsch, and classic Canadian TV: Bookishness, Jan. 21, 2013
MOCCA is alright Starting Feb. 1, Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art will be showing “ARE YOU ALRIGHT? New Art From Britain.” The exhibition’s works portray “allusions tothe grotesquely beautiful and explor[e] the darker side of kitsch… reveal[ing] a trend of disillusionment with contemporary British society.” Find out what all that means with a perusal…
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CHERRYGraph: A Defence of the Don
Don Cherry is like licorice: you love or you hate him. But while licorice is judged according to its primary function as food, Cherry’s work as an actual hockey analyst is ignored by critics who focus on him as a political and cultural symbol. They take for granted that he is a tawdry bombastic caveman,…
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Where’s the Beer? And Jamie Fitzpatrick’s You Could Believe in Nothing
Reviewed in this essay: You Could Believe in Nothing, by Jamie Fitzpatrick. Nimbus Publishing, 2011. Until a few weeks ago, I thought I knew hockey culture. Like many Canadians, I grew up playing the game, and put in my time watching Don Cherry in the 80s and 90s. And, like Derek in Jamie Fitzpatrick’s fine…