Stuff Still Happens, week 15: Rachael getting harried
The first, 100% NDP Alberta budget was released on Thursday, and it was a jaw dropper. Faced with a stunning decline in oil and gas revenues (two years ago, the…
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Stuff Still Happens, week 14: Rachel’s kitchen table chat
Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP government has been big on doing things differently, or so they say, but this week she went back to the tried and true. At a cost…
Stuff Still Happens, week 13: Horror in Lahore; more Trumpism
Remember the horrible attack last week in Belgium? Of course you do; it’s still in the news. But on Easter Sunday, there was another terrorist attack that was worse by…
Stuff Still Happens, week 12: Bombings, and bodies, keep piling up
Another week, another atrocity. This time, it’s Brussels, Belgium (a city described in January by Donald Trump as a “hellhole”) that came under sophisticated and yet cowardly attack by ISIS…
Stuff Still Happens, week 11: The Trump express rolls on; the Canadian ketchup controversy
It started as a joke. It’s still a joke, but nobody’s laughing anymore. Donald J. Trump famously entered the U.S. Republican race back in June by riding a down escalator.…
Stuff Still Happens, week 10: Justin does Washington
It was a good week to be Justin Trudeau. Just like the other 51, only a little bit more. Trudeau made the official rounds of Washington this week, including a…
Stuff Still Happens, week 9: Skinny cable is malnourished; Justin Trudeau, superstar
The big news in Canadian TV was all about the skinny. Last year, the CRTC ordered Canadian cable providers to provide a basic package of cable channels — commonly called…
Stuff Still Happens, week 8: Deficits, drugs and death
The big issue of the week in Canada, where we worry about these things for some reason, was deficits. The new Liberal government, which promised to run a $10 billion…
31 Days of Oscar, week 4
TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar comes to an end this week, so here, for the last time, are my choices for stuff to watch this week, most of which I’ve…
Stuff Still Happens, week 7: Horse racing put down; The Rebel yells
Edmonton Northlands, the so-called ‘agricultural society’ that has been a force in Edmonton since Edmonton was in diapers, announced a sweeping plan to rebuilt the soon-to-be-vacant arena and the area…
31 Days of Oscar, week 3
We’re into week 3 of TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar, the movie channel’s annual orgy of fine (and sometimes not so fine) films. Here are my picks for films to…
Stuff Still Happens, week 6: Trudeau keeps promise, gets roasted
The Trudeau government made good on one of its election promises this week. Whether it was a good decision remains to be seen. As promised, Trudeau is pulling our fighter…
31 Days of Oscar, week 2: The picks of the crop
Welcome to week two of Turner Classic Movies 31 Days of Oscar. The station, beloved by classic movie lovers, pulls out all the stops in February, airing a month of…
Stuff Still Happens, week 5: The trial of Jian Who, and Trump is trumped
The Iowa caucuses were held on Monday, and the picture for both parties is now crystal clear — I can say without fear of contradiction that Martin O’Malley will NOT…
An arbitrary guide to TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar, week 1
I admit it. I’m a Turner Classic Movies junkie.If that makes me an old man, so be it. I am old (almost 60, which at least makes me the young…
Stuff Still Happens, week 4: The Iowa caucuses explained … sort of
After 15,723 polls, 787,252 hours of TV time, and 254 billion words written (all numbers estimates), the election process to choose the next President of the United States begins in…
Stuff Still Happens, week 3: The slow death of the daily newspaper
And so, the era of competitive newspapers in Canada has come to an end. This week, the wretched Postmedia group consolidated the newsrooms in four cities where they own both…
A little historical perspective on the Syrian refugee numbers
As you know, Canada (in the form of our newly elected government) is bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees as our part in the effort to lessen the humanitarian crisis that…
Stuff Still Happens, week 2: Caution, bad news ahead
Hoo-boy, what a bad news week for Alberta, and Canada. Oil continued its slide, falling to below $30 a barrel. The Canadian dollar continued its slide, falling to below 70…
Stuff Still Happens, week 1: Happy new year … sort of
Welcome to 2016! Let’s start the year by forgetting old animosities, starting fresh and looking forward to an era of peace and goodwill between all religions and peoples. In that…