Author: Joey deVilla

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America The Current Situation

Happy Independence Day (and a message from Captain America)

I’m wishing everyone a happy and safe Fourth of July, and sharing this excerpt from issue #1 of the 2021 comic book The United States of Captain America:

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This is the white picket fence fallacy that, if we’re not careful, becomes nationalism. Jingoism.

That dream isn’t real. It never was.

Because that dream doesn’t get along nicely with reality. Other cultures. Immigrants. The poor. The suffering. People easily come to be seen as “different” or “unamerican.”

The white picket fence becomes a gate to keep others out.

A good dream is shared.

Shared radically. Shared with everyone.

When something isn’t shared, it can become the American Lie.

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The Lie is a real problem. Because it comes in the form of an empty promise.

A while back, we told the world they could come here for a better life. But too often we turn our backs on them.

Instead of a dream, they get handed a raw deal.

Then there is the second dream.

This one’s real.

But we don’t hold it. Or own it. Heck, we can’t even touch it.

We reach for it.

We work. We toil. We struggle. We fight. Together.

We may never reach it, but we never stop trying.

That’s my dream.

 

Here’s to the dream. Have a great holiday, everyone!

Captain America in “Avengers: Endgame,” holding his shield and Mjolnir.

Also worth checking out: Happy Independence Day, superhero-style!

Categories
The Current Situation

Before you complain about U.S. gas prices…

Map of gasoline prices around the world for June 7. 2022.
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There’s a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth about gas prices here in the U.S., but it’s not coming from me, because:

  1. Gas prices are a bargain here compared just about every other place on the planet, and
  2. My car use is so low that I go to the gas station only once every 4 – 5 weeks, and I regard my gas tank the same way cats regard their food bowls: half-full means empty.

In case you’re wondering how I get my errands and shopping done, I do most of them by doing about 10 kilometres each day on the conveyance pictured below:

Joey deVilla’s bike in front of a flower stand.
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Categories
The Current Situation

Happy Canada Day! Enjoy some Canadian flags.

For the longest time, Canada didn’t have an official flag. Instead, it made unofficial use of its variant of the British Red Ensign, a red flag with the Union flag in the upper left-hand corner — the canton — and a Canadian-themed coat of arms in the rightmost area — the fly. From just after Confederation to 1921, the flag looked like this:

canadian red ensign 1

…and then from 1921 to 1957, it looked like this:

canadian red ensign 2

…and from 1957 to 1965, it looked like this:

canadian red ensign 3

Through the 20th century, there were attempts to get an official flag made, and it took the Great Canadian Flag Debate of 1964 — nearly 100 years after the formation of the country — to finally get a flag that was all our own. There was bitter debate over its design, which was captured nicely in this painting by Rex Woods, who could be described as Canada’s answer to Norman Rockwell:

picking a canadian flag
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Of the designs featured in the paining, I’m kind of fond of the “psychedelic maple leaf” one:

psychedelic canadian flag

In the end, we got the simple, sharp, and iconic design that we know and love as the present-day Canadian flag. Happy Canada Day, everyone!

canadian flag

 

Categories
It Happened to Me

London travel diary: Jammin’ with Nelson

Joey deVilla poses with his accordion beside a bust of Nelson Mandela near Southbank Centre, London, UK.
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On the evening of our first day in London, we passed by Nelson Mandela’s bust and played the first verse of this ’80s ska gem:

Categories
Stranger than Fiction

This car’s owner missed a big opportunity by not having a “TOE TRUCK” sticker

Car with “TOESUKR” license plate and all manner of stickers that say that the owner loves toes and sucking toes.
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Categories
Stranger than Fiction

One bumper sticker, but SO MANY ways to interpret it!

Tap to view at full size. Thanks to Luke Gattuso for the find!

Is this sarcastic? I can’t tell.

Categories
It Happened to Me

London travel diary: The Whisky Exchange

Interior of the Whisky Exchange, London Bridge shop, London, UK.
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We weren’t quite sure how jet-lagged we’d be when we landed in London on the morning of Saturday, June 11th, so we kept our plans simple. We’d limit ourselves to wandering about the area near the our hotel (Sea Containers, right on the Thames’ south bank, just west of Blackfriars).

Within this limited zone was the London Bridge shop of Whisky Exchange. Anitra found it while doing her usual diligent pre-travel research, and being whisk(e)y aficionados, we had to go take a look.

Interior of the Whisky Exchange, London Bridge shop, London, UK.
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If you get the chance, go there — it’s impressive. Their selection is large and beautifully laid out, the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and how can you not trust a place like this in a drinker’s city?

Interior of the Whisky Exchange, London Bridge shop, London, UK.
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We chatted with the expert who was stationed at the desk in the back of the shop, asking for something that would be interesting, local, hard or impossible to get in the U.S. and was under £200. His recommendation: Filey Bay Yorkshire Special Malt Whisky’s Special Release Double Oak #1. There were a mere 2,000 bottles in this release, and yet it was well under the price limit we’d given.

Filey Bay Yorkshire single malt whisky - Special release

Here’s a video review of what we bought…

…here’s a Japanese whisky enthusiast’s tour of the shop…

…and here’s a CBS Saturday Morning piece on the Whisky Exchange: