Somehow, EPN World Reporter (an online magazine for journalists and photographers) chose misnomer as one of their "top blogs". They describe my coverage thus: "For those looking for a good conspiritorial [sic] rant, keep checking on Dru Oja Jay . As if his watchdog-style blog, Misnomer, isn't enough to keep you on your toes, try keeping up with his movements around the web!"

Two places I don't mind visiting when I'm in Toronto (which I was today) are the Bau Xi Gallery, which has decent painting, and Pages Books and Magazines, which houses a high-quality selection of magazines, and books, with a focus on politics and cultural crit.

I'm reading John Metcalf's Kicking Against the Pricks, a series of biting essays about the state of Canadian literature ('Canlit', they say). His sensibilities remind me at times of Dean Allen's little rants, and his interest in/obsession with the appearance of text (something not lacking at Porcupine's Quill, where Metcalf is The Editor.)

Contrary to all appearances propagated by a misleading marketing strategy, Blue Crush is not a movie about attractive women in bikinis that happens to include surfing. In fact, I found it quite interesting in a lot of ways. At the very least, the surfing footage is visually compelling, and the plot has some surprising elements. And it is progressive in a lot of ways for a hollywood flick (women can be independent, competent, and human in all the ways they usually aren't in the movies.. who'dve thought?), though I had a few quibbles as usual (did they really need to use a goofy, fat black guy for most of the comic relief?). I may be temporarily deluded by my low expectations being exceeded, but I reckon these reviews almost universally miss what made the movie interesting.

I wonder what Bitch Magazine will say about Blue Crush.

XXX, on the other hand, managed to spend a lot of money and be utterly incompetent in all but the most rudimentary technical sense (but look for the super-secure NSA fortress door that wobbles on cheap hinges), in addition to offensive and dehumanizing. A Toronto alternative rag got it right: "Vin Diesel parades around like a fetus on steroids..."