Welcome to The Electric Current Rundown podcast episode number 83.

And I’m your host, Phil Defiance, and I’ll always say I’m here to encourage the spread of intriguing knowledge that can spark fire in the minds of those seeking inspiration and truly improving the world.

And what I’m going to talk about in this episode includes a topic about art and my experiences at a Toronto art gallery.

And then I’m going to talk about a topic from my girlfriend about horror books.

So, well, so in Toronto and like most major cities, I’m sure there are like art galleries.

And the one in Toronto is called the AGO, like a go, but AGO because it stands for Art Gallery of Ontario, which is a province that Toronto is in.

And I went there like about three years ago with my girlfriend.

And I mean, that’s funny because this is another example.

I’ve had a few of these on my show, like weird coincidences, like that episode, a few episodes back about chocolate chip ice cream and also fast food, like weird coincidences like that, because I mean, I have a list of topics that I could talk about.

And it’s from a website and it said, talk about art.

So I’m talking about art.

And so I’m talking about a date from the early days in my relationship with my girlfriend.

And then I’m talking about a topic for my girlfriend.

But either way, I mean, that was a really good date back then.

And actually we’re going to end up going there again this year.

But like, I’ll have to say, like, I mean, I do like art.

I mean, my grandfather was a painter himself.

He died a couple of years ago at like 94.

He even tried to get me into like painting when I was a child.

So because of that, I did a little bit of painting myself.

But when I went to the AGO in Toronto a few years back on that date with my lovely girlfriend, it was a really good time.

I mean, I liked looking at a bunch of things.

Like I like old style art when it comes to paintings, like Victorian era and well, I mean, just like old style stuff when it comes to those kinds of paintings, like those oil paintings, like stuff like made by some famous painters in Europe.

And yeah, I mean, I remember when I was there with her, like there was like some paintings that were literally from the 1600s, like 1650s, and they kept them in such good condition.

It was like beautiful just seeing something there that was literally like about 400 years old.

I think the oldest painting though was about somewhere from the 1500s, maybe 1580s, and yeah, I mean, these are art galleries all across the planet at major cities like Toronto.

They easily like trade amongst each other.

Like, so I suppose that’s kind of what’s going on in some of the art at the AGO probably is permanent also.

But I mean, there was definitely really impressive pieces over there.

But OK, so I’m going to continue on on that topic in a moment.

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But yes, so those oil paintings, like some of them were from, I mean, there was one from around 1580.

There was a bit from the 1600s.

Like all those ones, those really old ones were really peculiar and they were beautiful, beautiful to look at.

Also, it’s crazy, like I said, that they were still in such good condition.

And I saw some pieces from the 1700s and some from the 1800s.

And yeah, like art from in between us, like around the 1500s to the 1800s is just gorgeous to look at.

And well, that’s just some of the art that I saw there though.

But I mean, oh yeah, when it comes to those oil paintings, though, there was even some paintings that were like, it looked kind of creepy, like almost like, oh, I mean, if you believe in ghosts, actually, I don’t really believe in ghosts, but some people do.

But it did feel a little spooky just looking at them.

I mean, some of those paintings actually, like literally looked like, like kind of scary.

Like at least one or two even looked a little bit like it was like spooky looking at them.

It was like as if like the painting was alive, like something, some kind of entity was looking at me.

But at the same time, I don’t actually believe in ghosts.

But it just like, you know, it’s kind of like something you see in a movie.

It just reminded me of something like that.

So that’s kind of what I felt when I saw that.

And I mean, if you see like old paintings like that, if you go to an art gallery, I’m sure sometimes you’ll encounter paintings like that.

Even if you’re like me and you don’t actually believe in ghosts.

But you still kind of get that vibe because maybe because you got that kind of vibe when you’ve seen movies.

But, I mean, either way, like there were some paintings that didn’t even have that kind of vibe, but they still looked a little bit like scary in their own way, like with how that kind of like spooky, almost ghost like feel.

But then again, there were also like when it comes to the oil paintings, there were also some paintings that just looked beautiful, like of landscapes and like mountains or hills or forests, like this is some gorgeous kind of stuff, even some castles.

And yeah, I mean, other than those kinds of things, I do recall at that place, there was like even other kinds of art.

Like, for example, there was art displays showing like history, like like when it comes to actual physical items.

Like one thing I definitely remember was, it was showing a history of TV’s.

Like it literally showed the TV’s from the 1930s, 1940s, all the way like till today.

And like, yeah, I mean, in the 30s, there were tiny little TV’s because people didn’t really afford that.

I mean, they couldn’t afford it.

Plus, it was such brand new technology back in those days.

By the 50s, they were kind of like wooden.

Yeah.

And like the 60s, they had like a circular type of look to them in a way.

That’s kind of emblematic of the 1960s type of style.

And then, the 80s, they had like wooden frame ones.

And I remember those from my own childhood.

And yeah, well, I mean, my girlfriend’s a little bit younger than me, but not a lot younger, but just a little bit.

And so she didn’t really remember those because she didn’t see those in her childhood like I did.

But yeah, I remember those.

And then, of course, I mean, after that, like most people, I mean, a lot of people do know about the TVs from the 90s or, well, not everyone, but yeah, those ones were kind of like plastic.

And like they look like an upgraded version of the 80s ones.

But by the year 2000, like the TV started looking like basically the same thing as today, just slightly different.

I mean, only slightly.

It’s like the style of the TVs like barely even changed since then.

But, okay, so I’m going to continue on that topic, and that’s what’s topics as I finish off this episode after this quick break.

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But, okay, so, yeah, other than those kinds of things, oil paintings, as well as those like physical items, like TV displays, which is a form of art too, I mean, if you think about it.

So it’s no wonder that they had that, the TVs, I mean.

Other than those types of things, though, there was also things like sculptures, and they had like a really peculiar display of sculptures, actually.

It was like really unique, like a whole room just full of like unique sculptures.

And I think that one came from like another country or something like they had it as a display for like the year or something at that time.

I think that’s what was mentioned in a sign anyway.

It was a really unique thing to see though.

Yeah, even that kind of stuff is like really unique and cool to be around.

It kind of felt like I was in a chessboard, actually.

It’s actually crazy.

Like it’s like I felt like I was in the middle of a live chess game.

It’s crazy, I’ll tell you.

But okay, now I’m going to switch topics.

To this topic from my girlfriend about horror books.

And I’m just going to talk about horror books that I’ve read throughout my life.

I mean, I am not a big reader.

I was more into reading like because of school, like teachers telling me like to do assignments and things like that.

So I was more reading back then because I was actually forced to do so.

So like, I mean, I’ll just reference one thing right now and I’ll reference a couple more in the next episode.

And so the one thing that I’m going to talk about is like teenage books that I was reading from this one author, R.

L.

Stein, who’s a pretty famous author for teenagers, as well as pre-teens.

He made books called Fear Street.

That’s the ones I really liked as a teen.

Like they were made for teenagers.

Like they were pretty scary, actually.

Some of those stories were like I couldn’t stop reading them.

I mean, I’ve heard like some people that are really into reading books, like they just want to read.

I mean, they just keep turning the pages, keep turning and keep turning.

And next thing you know, they read like a hundred pages in like one night or something like that.

Well, sometimes it kind of almost felt like that because I swear I must have had some nights where I read like 40, 50 pages like in one night, maybe even more, something like that, especially from those Fear Street novels.

And they had some really unique stories like horror stories.

Yes.

Well, actually, it makes sense that my girlfriend told me to talk about that too because she actually writes some short stories that are horror in particular.

I mean, not like extreme spooky, but a little bit of like horror comedy type stuff.

But like, I mean, these stories that I’m talking about, these novels from RL.

Stein, Fear Street, they’re not really comedic at all.

They weren’t.

They were just like scary, but they weren’t horrifying.

They just were generally scary.

And they generally included people that were either in their late teens or early 20s.

And a lot of the time they were like still going to high school.

But like there was like always like a unique story.

It was like scary, literally scary.

Some of some of the parts of the stories.

And that’s why it was like hard to stop reading them.

I just had to keep going.

But OK, I mean, that’s just an example.

I’m going to have a couple more in the next episode.

And that’s the end of this episode, episode number 83 with me, your host, Phil Defiance.

And I’ll always say that I’m here to encourage the spread of intriguing knowledge that can spark fires in the minds of those seeking inspiration and truly improving the world.

And till next time, have a good one.