{"id":35489,"date":"2026-08-27T19:10:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=35489"},"modified":"2026-08-28T15:21:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T20:21:47","slug":"lake-ontario-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=35489","title":{"rendered":"Lake Ontario Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the weekend, Canada rejected a trade deal with the United States that would have resulted in a loss of economic sovereignty for our northern neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump took this surprisingly well.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Oh, who I am kidding. Donald Trump doesn’t take anything<\/em> well. He’s a petty little B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took me about thirty seconds to realize why he would fixate on the name “Lake Ontario.” It’s because Ontario is also the name of a Canadian province, so in his mind he can punish Canada by taking away a name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like I said, petty B.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And today he did. He held a ceremony in the Oval Office, and he signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with his stupid renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, I will not be using his new name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada had a few words on the meaning and the antiquity of the name, Lake Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office also had thoughts. New York borders Lake Ontario, though I have a pre-Revolutionary War map which shows Pennsylvania’s northern border extending to the shores of the lake. (Pennsylvania’s land claims were extraordinary.)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A few commentary posts I saw. Posted without comment.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

The actor Tim Curry died yesterday<\/a>. He, like Dolly Parton the day before, was eighty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show<\/em>. I haven’t seen Home Alone 2<\/em>. I didn’t even see IT<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw Clue<\/em>. And The Three Musketeers<\/em>. And The Hunt for Red October<\/em>, where he delivers one of my favorite lines in the film: “You will receive the Order of Lenin for this, captain.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also the original King Arthur in Spamalot<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I listened to the Spamalot<\/em> cast album yesterday morning. I bought it at the Target at North Hills in Raleigh in the spring of 2005. I don’t recall why I’d gone there, but the memory of that Target and the Spamalot<\/em> cast album is distinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Diamond I would sometimes belt out “I’m All Alone,” especially during the days of COVID when I might’ve been the only person in the north half of the office. I hope I did Tim Curry’s performance justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For several years Eric Idle wanted to make a Spamalot<\/em> movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other Pythons put a kibosh on that recently. I suspect they’d given cautious approval when Terry Jones was alive, as his share of the Spamalot<\/em> money could go toward his care, but after he died in 2020 the other Pythons respected Jones’ feelings on Spamalot<\/em> — he didn’t like it, he called it “rubbish” and “utterly pointless” — and pulled the plug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless Idle were going to get the original cast together — and after Curry’s 2012 stroke, which left him confined to a wheelchair, that was not going to happen — I also thought a Spamalot<\/em> film was “utterly pointless.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’m just a fan, and my opinions don’t matter to Eric Idle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rest easy, Tim Curry. You have at last escaped to the one place uncorrupted by capitalism — SPACE!!!!<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I have a story. It's not really about Tim Curry, it's not really about VAGABOND, though they play a small role.It's a story about me, my mom, a trip to Target, and what I call "her last good day."I'm not really going to get through it, but I'll try.<\/p>— Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson.bsky.social)<\/a> 2026-08-26T20:59:16.210Z<\/a><\/blockquote>