Damnation

It seemed like just another industrious upscale beaver endeavour, a modest dam in Lake Ontario giving so many of them something to do.

They kept finding more and more material and eagerly fitting it into place, most people were unconcerned, winter had just ended, summer was underway.

Before long they'd freakin' dammed up half the massive lake with humble decorum, they just kept going and going and going like the Great Wall of China or CN Rail.

It was pretty damned adorable seeing so many beavers working in unison, continuously building and building and building one piece at a time with no end in sight.

We never thought to question what would happen if they completed it, the inherent absurdity much too ridiculous, it was far too popular for scientists to pay attention, much too kitschy for philosophers to take note.

But then one day there it bloomin' well was, Lake Ontario had been dammed up, and the beavers had built an enormous lodge near Hamilton, where the water was much much warmer. 

When suddenly, out of the blue, a colossal tidal wave emerged.

And destroyed everything in the GTA.

The beavers bloated, unconcerned.

*Isn't this a bit crazy dad?, I mean, how did a beaver dam start a tidal wave?

**You see, son, the intense pressure of the waves combined with the intensity of the winds to accidentally create a tectonic Godzilla-like disaster.

*Global warming strikes again.

**In full-on soluble moist regalia.

*Shouldn't we have simply broken the dam up before it wantonly annihilated the Big Freakin' Smoke?

**Hindsight recalls a misunderstanding and bureaucratic disfavour haunting resolutions. 

*Glad everyone from Simcoe and Muskoka showed up with their boats to help people out.

**That was a thoughtful innovation, and I hear a lot of it was improvised.

*Is there anywhere to go in Brampton or Mississauga? 

**I'm drawing a blank, but there must be something. They could use CFL teams. 

*Totally. What did the beavers do after peeps blew up their dam?

**Headed back north, so I'm told.

*Always moving, non-stop industry. 

Kitten Caboodle

They existed peacefully in unison, in balanced harmony with inclusive nature, enjoying the modest bounty of the land with humble reckoning and agile foresight.

Their species had known these comforts since time immemorial and everlasting, when a bold and crafty constructive divinity cleverly thought of a newfound plan.

He noted that the expansive landscape hadn't changed much in recent centuries, and thought that if one of his creatures had cultivating powers the resultant wilderness would be more dynamic. 

In consultation with the chosen ones he clearly explained his wondrous plan, that they should henceforth build abundant dams with natural materials across the land. 

Many of the chosen animals had requisite questions in curious response, the inquisitive characteristics of their postures respectfully admired by their master.

He laid out the efficient plan in erudite detail with effective musing, taking into animate account regional differences and personality conflicts.

Yet even though the plan seemed fine and in fact brilliant from many perspectives, there were still those amongst them who thought it foolhardy and supercilious. 

They complained of the extra work and how it would conflict with nutrient acquisition, and lazing about in the hot sun on warm summer days ad infinitum.

The others pointed out that dam construction would ensure food throughout the winter, and the nearby lodge a place to stay that couldn't be accessed by wolves or bobcats.

Still they refused to believe longing to keep to the olden ways, and struggle if needs be from month to month and day to day.

And the divinity became fed up and indeed supernaturally decreed, that the species would be separated into different groups forever after.

The beavers would have a special tail and be given the miraculous gift, to venture forth throughout the land constructing dams for all and sundry.

The muskrats would keep the tail of a rat and never change throughout the centuries, in close resemblance to their ancient brethren yet less industrious over the millennia.

I always thought beavers got the idea to build dams and lodges from watching birds build nests. Isn't that true dad?

It might be little Timmy. Although I must admit, I really can't say.  

Turumba

A traditional family nestled in the Philippines makes its living selling toys, lively animals made from paper mâché earn them a modest yet ample living.

The father is the village "Cantor" and leads a procession at the Turumba Festival, a local honour cherished and respected throughout the peaceful laidback countryside.

His family sells its toys at that same festival where it makes enough to live on throughout the year, their creations sought after viscerally due to the lifelike detail of their composition. 

Indeed Grandma oversees each toy's production and never withholds her well-meaning criticism, should her grandchildren employ less vigorous industry in the application of their art.

Time honoured modes of intricate manufacture collide with postmodern demands, however, when amazed toy sellers from a foreign land effectively hire them to thrive in abundance. 

Production vastly increases and soon many people from the village are hired, from 500 to 25,000 delicate toys definitively made with burgeoning expertise. 

But something's lost through the sudden transition and even though much more money's being made, free time to converse and relax or hike and explore fades into the disciplined background.

No doubt tempting to elaborately excel in lucrative crafty business endeavours, and to readily supply sought after local jobs with robust impacts and substantial reckoning.

The manufacture of their toys does little harm to the local environment, and therefore doesn't recklessly pollute the mountainous terrain they freely call home.

Free time to spend spiritually enriched with emphatic energy in the pursuit of life, can lead to a less stressful existence as the years pass with zest however.

There's a sense of pride and comprehensive achievement in the maintenance of fluid enterprise, but is the impoverished machete man not also rich with coveted free time to spend in the jungle?

As the Holiday Season swiftly approaches and the inherent glitter dazzlingly tantalizes, it's encompassingly intriguing to efficiently work and secure sufficient funds to commercially accommodate. 

But without the spiritual eagerness those emancipated hours resting with family and friends, does the season not lose some of its limitless value in the stoic determination to ceaselessly labour?

Different answers to different people but chillin' time is certainly important.

It's also cool to have lots of cash. 

The age old dialectic.

Acutely manifest. 

Young Guns

Serendipitous saddling fomenting fortunes crackerjack kindness reverent rustlin', stampeding torrents literate loci instructive succour obliged education.

Haberdash hogshead tenacious teamwork Rubiconstructive retained regulators, truculent taunting subsiding swagger intellect jambience burgeoning blossoms. 

Collusive commerce nefarious networks jingoist junction Tatooine tirades, secretive sinuous stealthy swashbuckle malicious murder curmudgeon cabal. 

Renegade retinue leaderless posse passionate penchants kinetic collective, diatribe deputies laconic lawmen nebulous neophytes seditious swerve.

Mad uncharacteristic unruly Blitzkrieg undisciplined dagwooden undaunted dragoonies, occultist oddballroomatadorabble incensed discipupils adherent litter.

Internal combustion unsettling disputes cardionysus fraternal fissures, exacting ill-favoured rogue smallpox impression newfound internecine audacious comport.

Poetic proclivities amorous auction studious studebake uncertain unction, indiscreet bold nimble enamoured sojourn conjugal cosign vigorous reach. 

Bellicose business exceptional tenure unwavering purpose conspicuous focus, shock instigation lawless calibration embellished belief conceptual savvy. 

Indelicate danger insurmountable agency doughty nuthatch infinite conflict, rigorous tumbledown improvised fortitude carnivalesque formidable foes. 

Survivalist synergies wilderness verve exceeding temerity ambitious being, Old Mexico-sponsored galvanized gumption offhand industrious bushwhacking beatitudes. 

Unforgotten friendship disheartening news sinistorytime sequential stark staggered symmetry, foolhardy reckoning brave composition inexhaustible mantra cataclysmic mavericks. 

Innovative illogic western wimbledowntown youthful yippee-ki-yay exotic entertainment, perennial favourites ricardiocast enticing implausibility unkempt exaggeration.

Love Terence Stamp's role in this film.

Innate improbability. 

The best Billy-the-Kid movie I've seen.

Followed the cast in different films for years.  

Herz aus Glas (Heart of Glass)

I suppose that for tens of thousands of years the possession of esoteric knowledge proved rather fruitful, and could generate unique industry which in turn supplied steady work for brave inhabitants. 

It still does in many instances your ideas can generate bountiful incomes, although if they create planet saving envirotechnologies it's also cool to eventually share them with your community for free.

In Herz aus Glas (Heart of Glass), a medieval town is resonantly known for its ruby glass, which it manufactures with artistic grace and reliable marketable old school intensity.

But the only one who definitively knows how to authentically and genuinely produce it, passes without having shared the code, or indeed transmitted it to another.

Panic doesn't immediately set in although tensions slowly start to run high, the factory owner finding mad solutions which the agile workforce swiftly deems barking. 

The factory burns there's no other industry the local clairvoyant's sent to jail for predicting it.

A grim look at the distraught middle ages.

Indirectly championing scientific culture.

Environmental progress and industry finding ingenious ways to boldly progress hand in hand, I've recently joined some online groups which consistently share new green technologies.

Steady employment - something to do - still remains of paramount cultural importance, jobs gained mathematically balanced with those lost to nimbly cultivate immersive interactivity. 

It always amazes me how hard people work and routinely commit to standards of excellence, and I've lived and worked in almost every province and territory, the Canadian and Québecois work ethic internationally outstanding.

New ideas - innovative strategies - reflexively emerging each and every day, to outwit debilitating fatigue and intuitively enable freedom and longevity.

We're lucky to have such a colossal country so much of which remains largely unexplored, such a shame we can't grow food in winter, but the cold temperatures do keep the ideas a' flowing.

I imagine if given the time the resolute workers in Herz aus Glas, would have figured out how to make the Ruby and diligently proceeded to keep the doors open.

By constantly experimenting till they precisely found the missing ingredient like none other.

Likely making other marketable discoveries along the way.

Strongly investing in research & development.

Medicine Man

Laidback far off in the jungle, ensconced within an Amazonian tribe, a doctor searches for the cure for cancer (Sean Connery as Dr. Robert Campbell), as encroaching industry rapidly assails.

He's been on his own scientifically speaking for the past 3 productive years, when a research assistant comes querulously calling, hoping for an update on his progress (Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Rae Crane). 

She's unaccustomed to field research but she's a gamer and athletically makes do, initial quarrels gradually mutating into spry collegial conversations.

It helps that Campbell's well-versed in freespirited adventurous exploration, and can expertly guide her through the forest at a variety of elevations.

But his last research assistant was also female and he cantankerously drove her away, unable to let himself be forgiven, for introducing a viral element.

Fortunately, he's found the cure, there's just one pesky problem, he can't synchronously reproduce it, and neither can diligent Crane.

It's a dedicated romantic tale confrontationally composed through agile wonder, promoting biodiverse necessities and the essential need for wildlife preservation.

There's a thoughtful acclimatizing scene where Crane observes Campbell interacting with his tribe, not with the intent of spoiling his fun, but rather out of respect for his cohesive integration.

While Campbell's work is extremely important and his potential discovery of paramount depth, his Indigenous hosts suffer for his research, one tribe lost, another forced to relocate.

These tragedies take place even though he takes every resolute precaution, so many lives lost through effects unforeseen, even when proceeding with the best intentions.

Don't confuse this with the horrifying legacy of Canada's residential school system, Campbell has respect for the Natives and has no desire whatsoever to assimilate them.

I don't think the people who ran those schools ever considered taking painstaking precautions, otherwise we wouldn't have found so many grass graves (new ones every week), imagine one child died at school in our time, due to mismanagement, the outrage would last a generation. 

And we've found four mass graves so far, it's clear something they were doing at these schools wasn't working. And they didn't try to change their methods. Most likely hoped that God would intervene.

I ask you, is medical science not what people have been praying for since the beginning of time?

Why didn't these schools have trusted medical resources?

I doubt children died at comparable rates in similar rural circumstances. 

La théorie du tout

Travelling throughout the Québecois countryside, Céline Baril presents the thoughts and observations of a wide variety of local points of view in her documentary La théorie du tout. The countryside is indirectly compared to a musical instrument that needs to be played in order to maintain its jaunty fluidity. Providing work for rural areas enables them to similarly maintain their communal vitality. But over production and obsessions with continually increasing profits have decimated resources that could have indefinitely supported them.

Changing technologies are lamented as a worker who has spent decades operating a specific machine must learn a new set of skills.

A young adult attached to her town wants to stay but her journalistic ambitions leave her with few employment opportunities.

Some individuals adapt and move from one industry to another as mining rejuvenates a struggling economy.

An ominous sense of anxiety pervades thoughts concerning the future of various fisheries as overflowing populations have been reduced to a fraction of their former plenitude.

The emphasis on providing rural workers/job seekers/small business owners/ . . . with the chance to voice their ideas and share their knowledge establishes a bucolic social democratic aesthetic which modestly illustrates sustainable development alternatives to the rapacious bottom line of 'moving forward' capitalists (without using the phrase).

A lot of people don't want to leave the town where they grew up or have lived and worked for most their lives. Sustainable development offers them with symphonic methodologies to orchestrate their futures along harmonic pastoral lines possessing environmentally sound melodies.