Sylvester Stallone Archives • Ted Barris

Team Canada celebrates gold-medal victory at 2020 world junior hockey championship in Czech Republic. dailyhive.com

I was heading home from the city, the other night. I dashed up the escalator from the TTC subway, and spotted the coach I had to catch sitting outside the bus station. I sprinted across the platform and landed just inside the front doors of the bus. The bus driver wasn’t pulling out right away, so I caught my breath and moved down the centre aisle of the bus to make room for others.

“Don’t crowd me, man,” said a young commuter next to me. “Keep the f___ away!” And I stepped back and apologized.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” said another man to the guy spouting the profanity.

And on it went. More expletives. More intensity. Back and forth between the two young strangers on the bus. So, before the bus left the station, I asked the driver to open the door and, as he did, I thanked him and said, “I think I’ll catch the next bus.” (more…)

Abraham Rosenbach got the bug to collect rare books from his uncle Moses Polock.

Did you know that the original manuscript for James Joyce’s book Ulysses rests in Philadelphia? That’s because a Philadelphian named Abraham Rosenbach felt he needed to acquire it. In 1924, when he saw the first version of the book, Joyce’s actual pencilled words on paper, Rosenbach bought it.

He paid $1,975 for it. At the time, he felt he was simply helping Joyce raise much needed cash. When Joyce’s fortunes changed and he tried to buy the manuscript back from Rosenbach, he refused. Later, Rosenbach offered to buy the page proofs for Ulysses.

Joyce was incensed, saying “when [Rosenbach] receives a reply from me, all the rosy brooks [a play on Rosenbach’s name] will have run dry.” (more…)