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 »
I know in Andrew’s absence, I should pick up the baton and say something witty and wise about the new health care agreement in this country, but I’ve simply lost the battle to stay interested in it. I’m glad everyone seems to be in agreement. I have as much faith in all parties staying uncomplainingly […] More »
In a bizarre op-ed in today’s New York Times, Paul Wolfowitz, the widely discredited court advisor to King George II, makes an impassioned plea to Presidential candidates in Indonesia to respect the rule of law and freedom of the press. Read it yourself. The ironies are too many and too deep to pick just one. […] More »
Edited because who knows how deep the libel chill goes? So Lord Tubby of Fleece is suing St. Joseph Media, owners of Toronto Life, because of an article that appeared in that magazine in July, called “A toast to Lord Black on his arrival in hell.” He wants $2.1 million. Haven’t seen the piece, but […] More »
So Kalle Lasn has managed to persuade Clayton Ruby to sue CBC, CTV, Canwest, CHUM, and the Canadian Government. Why? Because Adbusters magazine can’t persuade any of these media outlets to run their dorky “anti-advertisements.” According to today’s Globe, Lasn is outraged by “the idea of a TV executive lording it over me and telling […] More »
We’ve had a lot of response to our inaugural media column by Arthur Johnson, Wage Slaves, which entreats the large, profit-driven magazines to abolish their unpaid internships. It touched a nerve for young journalists who are expected to ‘pay their dues’ by working for free to enter the magazine workforce. And the righteous clucking amongst […] More »
I don’t want to instigate another Olympic showdown here, but there’s an interesting article from The Tyee that indicates Canadian atheletes didn’t do so badly after all. Read this article on The Tyee’s site Apparently when you factor in population and GDP, Canada actually did better than the US… and Cuba and Jamaica kicked ass! More »
Thanks to one of those strange confluences that the information age occasionally produces, poetry has been forced onto the front burner of my consciousness this week. Unpacking my last box of books, I came across an old copy of 15 Canadian Poets. I sat down, took a break, and quickly reread some of my favourite […] More »
The lead story in today’s Post — big headline, above the fold — is Scott Taylor’s weeklong kidnapping/beating ordeal at the hands of Al-Qaeda in Northern Iraq last week. It sounds pretty harrowing… Canada could have had our own hostage/beheading threat, which certainly would have given Post editorialists the opportunity to say “we told you […] More »
Three years ago today I was running late for work because of a bad headache, and I stepped into a local coffee shop on my way to the office, only to be stopped, like everyone else in the world, by a television and a crowd of silent onlookers. Today, riding a city bus downtown with […] More »