deconstructing Pussy Riot and the White Album

First things first - I actually - yes, I did - just logged onto CBC.ca to check on the men's hockey score from Sochi. They were playing Latvia today and I'd heard it was a close game, didn't know how it came out.

We won, in case you wondered, but barely. Do I care? Well - some of the people I love do, so that's enough. Soon, the gold medal match against the U.S. It'll be a busy night in the bars.

Much more interesting - the documentary "Pussy Riot - a punk prayer" at the Hot Docs cinema. The only thing crazier than those girls is the country they live in. The doc shows their lunatic "performance" on the altar of Moscow's great cathedral, and their arrest and trial. We see three women who are very angry about everything, and a country that can comprehend neither their anger nor their right to show it. A few decades ago, in the old Soviet Union, the story would have ended very differently. I saw the film with my friend Ron, whose partner is Syrian. They would have been executed in Syria, he said.

So Russia is better than it was, yes, but still miles from democracy. Putin is terrifying; they hate him, with good reason. The film says he will probably be president until 2024. Imagine. And yet the women are so incoherent - and, let's admit it, such lousy musicians. And yet wondrously brave. And yet - two of them are mothers, and you wonder where their children are. The most moving part of the doc is interviews with their faithful, long-suffering parents. There is fallout from that kind of heedless activism.

A very interesting film - especially as the same women have just been re-arrested in Sochi.

And then, bliss - last night an event called "Deconstructing the Beatles - the White Album." A man called Scott Freiman makes a living presenting lectures in which he talks about various albums, the details of what was going on at the time in society, in the studio and in the Beatles' private lives. When I walked into the big, completely sold out auditorium at TIFF, I thought, THESE ARE MY PEOPLE! A roomful of Beatle geeks, aged ten to ninety. From Freiman's website:

Scott's presentations tell the story of the Beatles music using rare audio and video of the Beatles in action and populated with anecdotes about the recording sessions. Drawing on numerous first-hand sources, Scott walks his audiences through detailed analyses of the songwriting and production techniques used by the Beatles in recording their landmark albums and singles.

It was fabulous, and I was in heaven, as you can imagine. I thought, if only I had my book here to sell. Ah well. Soon.

It was warm today, almost, with hot sun. Thank you, Lord.