Yes Means Yes: A Reading to Start Your Week
If you read anything about Yes Means Yes, this week, read this paragraph, then click the link to read it all. We all need to be talking about this around…
Culture
The Three Godzillas: Size Matters
This year another remake of Godzilla was released, and of course I had to get a copy. I have many of the other Godzilla films made over the past 60…
It’ll Be Fast: On Yes Means Yes
Globe and Mail. I was struck by the report of an intimate exchange between a man and woman in today’s Globe & Mail; the woman later questioned how consensual the…
Poems That Make You Cry
I cannot read Dylan Thomas’ poem, ‘Do not go gentle into that good night‘ without a lump in my throat. I read it at my father’s funeral, several years ago,…
Camping’s madness carries on
Harold Camping has been dead for almost a year, but his legacy lives on. Not just in the broken dreams of his deluded followers, but in the many lives he…
The CBC Respects Dignity Better than Corporate Media
Corporate media, being owned by corporations, needs to maximize shareholder wealth. That means news is a loss leader. News is about generating sensationalism, excitement or hysteria. News is about generating…
Reflections on a violent day in Ottawa
Photo from Public Domain I often find it hard to feel empathy for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But when I saw the grim picture of him talking on the phone…
Girl Posts Selfie – Internet Retaliates
If you took any history 101 class, you may have heard of civil rights activist, and overall great guy, Martin Luther King, Jr.. And if you happened to be awake…
Cold Mountain Poems
I first became aware of the Tang dynasty poet, Han Shan, in the late 1960s, when I was engrossed in reading the poets of the earlier Beat generation. It was…
What I Am Thankful For
This weekend, I am thankful for folks in Seattle who know how to transform the imperialist Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples’ Day. May we all learn this for next year!…
Revisiting Chinatown Revitalization: Oct 8 at 8pm at Centre A
October 8 Program will start at 8pm Centre A, 229 East Georgia Street. FREE Event. RSVP here. Chinatown—the community, its buildings, its urban plan—is one of the most significant cultural
Extra Virginity
For some time before I got this book, I’ve been aware that there is more to olive oil than meets the eye. Or tongue. How much more really was startling.…
Some Latin Quotes to Ponder
Here are some translations from Latin quotations I took from a few books of mine, notably The Anchor Book of Latin Quotations, compiled by Norbert Guterman (Anchor-Doubleday, New York, 1966…
Is the Internet making us stupid? Or just shallow?
In my never-ending search for some bit of knowledge one day, during a mix-and-match of search engine terms while looking for classical writers’ views on death and dying, I stumbled…
Our gawker culture
Suddenly the Net lit up with headlines news: celebrity nude photos leaked! Videos too! Facebook timelines were replete with media stories. Shock. Horror. Voyeurism. Click, click, click the viewers racked…
Classical music matters even more today
The official launch of the new Classical FM 102.9 radio station in Collingwood this past weekend reminded me of my own past history with classical music, but also why it…
Shaping Rape Culture
Smoking was once the epitome of cool, at least by Hollywood and advertising standards. Mid century idols displayed a sense of sophistication with that white stick dangling from hands, mouths,…
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
I love Nicholas Carr’s book. There are lots of studies and science mixed with many stories and asides and discussions of philosophers and other great thinkers. It reminded me of…
Sex, violence and TV shows
We just finished watching the third season of Game of Thrones on DVD this past weekend. Before that, we watched The White Queen, another DVD series (one season only, although…
On Glorifying Psychopaths
Murray Dobbin wrote a very provocative article relating our TV viewing of psychopaths to our politics. Owen explored the glorification of psychopaths in a post discussing the article, and I…