Haters to the left. No, seriously. I understand why many loathed the royal wedding. I understand why so many were sick of the dress, the dress, the details and all the press. I get it. But some of those might not get me, and why I waited for this, and why I watched and waited and sighed. In defense of the royal wedding — it was a joy.
Today’s post is brought to you by the five-day-kitten I got to hold over the weekend (those are not my hands in the picture). Because look at it. It doesn’t even look like a thing. It just looks like a concept, like a teensy-tiny calico explosion of cute. Its cuteness cannot even be properly registered by the human brain. While you’re recovering from that stupendous creature of God — which was in attendance for Hull’s Haven Border Collie Rescue’s adopt-a-thon at a Polo Park-area pet store - I shall move on to tonight’s assemblage of interesting posts gleaned from here, there and everywhere, including some now somewhat-stale Twitter memes that everyone [...click for more...]
Taking off of my last scanner chat post - though that hour was not necessarily the best example , so you non-scanner listeners may have to trust me on this — the biggest thing that stands out, when you’re stuck listening to the scanner for many hours, is the sheer size of the burden that seniors put on the health care system. Consider. As a person, I am sort of an awkward assemblage of highly random talents. (Decent writer; great whistler; likes to make drawings…) One of these surprising affinities is imitation, and one of my current greatest hits amongst my friends is my “scanner [...click for more...]
Evening greetings, friends! A small blogkeeping note: after hearing some buzz about the system, I swapped my comment system over to Disqus. This is part of a general editorial (HA HA HA) decision that I’d like to make this blog a bit more interactive. Over the last five months I’ve been having a lot of fun writing my little potpurri of blog posts and watching the readership grow. Now I’d like to make the blog a bit more welcoming to discussions; that comes down mostly to playing around with new types of content, of course — my Very Serious 1,000-word ramblings are not the [...click for more...]
Because I’m musing some things, and wondering some things, today, a discussion post! Here, intrepid readers, is your topic: What story, or stories, do you desperately hope you never have to see, hear or read about, ever again? It could be local, national, or international. It could be frivolous or serious, sad or scary. All that matters is that it is a story in the media that makes the little ball of perpetual annoyance in your chest (admit it, we all have one) throb mercilessly whenever you see it in the headlines, yet again. It would be improper for me [...click for more...]
When the day winds down, and the newsroom empties out, it’s just you* and the scanner. It’s an eerie thing, listening these disembodied voices broadcasting small panics and big emergencies from across the city. It is also instructive, a blow-by-blow of the real pressures that weigh on our police, ambulance and fire services — some frivolous, some frightening. So tonight, a project: as I sit here, babysitting my scanner, I offer you a play-by-play of the calls that come in. I’ve edited out the minor chatter, such as ambulances checking in to say they’re at a certain hospital, and tried to focus on [...click for more...]
Because sometimes you don’t even know it when your photographer is capturing a moment that you never want to forget. I think every writer, every reporter and every journalist (pick your title: I prefer option the first) loves something a little different about this very strange job that we do. Some people love the digging. Some love the learning. Others just love the obligatory press conference cheese cube platters. Me? I love the fact that we get to go places most people don’t get to go. That we get invited into places and spaces and situations that most people will [...click for more...]
Since approximately 90% of my recent blog traffic has been people searching Google for “Unburger,” and landing on my last musing about its impending arrival, I come bearing a gift. That’s right, it’s the Unburger menu, posted on their window on Stradbrook Avenue! Apologies for the horrendous quality. I need a real camera. But you can mostly make-out the ingredients, which pledge fresh, never-frozen beef and all other sorts of burger-related goodness. They also are planning to serve some big salads and intriguing sides, including edamame. My hungry-heart highlights: BEEF: The Drunken Aussie: Golden pineapple, Balsamic onion & tomat relish, [...click for more...]
The new West End Cultural Centre feels like the old West End Cultural Centre. Sitting here, in the dark, with my father next to me and Hawksley Workman onstage, feels like the time eight years ago we did the same. Life has come full circle; my best friend-and-father beside me, my heart sung out on stage. A Hawksley show is a world; a Hawksley show is a lifetime lived and died, short gasps and long, living sighs. I’ve seen enough to know. Maybe seen him twenty times; so tonight, I see he is in the finest form. More self-reflective than usual, though. [...click for more...]
Having completed a draft post on the serious business of burgers, I am setting it aside, because something else weighs on my mind. The story of Joe McLeod, the 70-year-old Alzheimer’s patient who shoved 87-year-old Frank Alexander to his death in a personal care home, is quite possibly one of the saddest Manitoban stories in recent memory. Oh, this is not for lack of options. Our business knows tragedy, and knows grief. Our business cloaks itself in sadness with every day’s headlines. But there is something uniquely sad about this case, where there is a murder, but no murderer. A human action with no human to be held [...click for more...]
