Checking the electoral vote count website today, I note two things of interest. First, Kerry has edged ahead of Bush again in projections for who will reach the magic number and be all Martin Sheeny come November, due to a newly strong showing in hurricane-ravaged Florida. The first debate looms, also in Florida, September 30th […] More »
Last week I was ranting around the office about Teen Vogue’s cover story on “The shocking new way girls are keeping slim” or some equally stupid coverline. The story was about starlets using cocaine to keep their waistlines slim. It ticked me off because there’s widely held editorial wisdom with eating disorders that you don’t […] More »
I read Malcolm Gladwell’s latest, a charming essay on Ketchup, in the food issue (September 6, 2004) of the New Yorker. I recommend it for a number of reasons: – it reminded me of the equally charming “Legend of Pepsi AM” by Chris Turner (This Magazine, November/December 2002) – which reminded me what a kick-ass […] More »
As I climbed out of bed this morning, a host of monkeys flew out of my butt. I traipsed over and flicked on the radio, where the CBC was reporting on a snowball fight in hell. Huh, I thought. That’s weird. What happened — did Quebec sign the Constitution? Close: We were wrong about free […] More »
This afternoon I stumbled into the Quebec book chain Renaud-Bray, juggling my fancy coffee and overstuffed knapsack, trying to make my way to the magazine rack to pick up a copy of the Economist. As I cut by the cash, I was brought by the lee by a gorgeous, lemon-yellow little book, glowing shyly amid […] More »
Came across this comment the other day: I’ve learned something interesting: if you give away ice cream, eventually a lot of people will complain about the flavours, and others will complain that you aren’t also giving away syrup and whipped cream and nuts. I was reminded of this as I read in my morning paper […] More »
When was the last time you read a work of fiction and every single word jumped off the page to slap and tickle you and you, well, liked it, and wanted more and more? Paul Dutton’s latest work, and first novel, Several Women Dancing (The Mercury Press) will do that to no end. I kid […] More »
The Globe is reporting today about how certain parts of rural Quebec are seeing a rise in conspicuous teenage wealth due to the extremely profitable business of farming marijuana for organized crime. While the students seem happy with all the cool stuff their drug money can buy, local economies suffer: “Lured by quick cash, the […] More »
The Guardian has a cool news blog here. Play around with it amongst yourselves. I’m going to retreat to my hovel with a copy of Hogg’s Constitutional Law of Canada and try to figure out just how badly Paul Martin has screwed Canada with this appalling Health Care deal. Long rant will follow. More »
Think you know your countries? Take this quiz. I scored a pathetic 40%, though I think I deserve half marks for getting Haiti/Dominican Republic backward. More »