Remembering when comedy was, well, funny
The tributes to Bob Newhart last week were universal in tone. A great comic, a great sitcom star, and a great guy. If there was anyone who had a bad…
entertainment
Is Bigger Better? In TVs, Maybe Not.
I read on several websites that for a distance of about 3.6 m (12 ft) from the screen to the viewer, the optimum size of a television should be 85…
A Simpsons milestone nobody is celebrating
According to the Internet (which, as we know, is never wrong), if you were to watch all 552 episodes of The Simpsons, it would cost you 12,144 minutes of your…
The Return of Stuff Happens, week 4: Trump’s rule by fiat
We all know how powerful the President of the United States is. But I don’t know if we ever recognized just how powerful. Almost … dictatorial? Don’t agree? Well, what…
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 Happens, week 51: It was a very bad year
Well, I did it. And I’m sure you’re thrilled. When I started writing this blog, I vowed to write a weekly review of events as I saw them. I did…
Annual message to Calgary Stampede: real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment
PHOTOS: Stampede chuckwagon races – exciting for spectators, but deadly and cruel for horses. Real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment. There will be a safety “review” after the death…
Violent Video Games can be Good
Violent video games get attacked a lot. Media and news companies are quick to blame the influence video games have on youth to be the reason that youth commit acts…
Do we value women or don’t we?
I haven’t had much to say since the shootings on Parliament Hill back in October, but today’s news that Jian Ghomeshi is facing three new charges, all from three new…
Questlove Remembers Robin Williams
Man. The smallest gesture can mean the world to you. Robin Williams made such an impact on me and didn’t even know it. He named checked all of us in…
Electronic music, raves & Toronto’s moral panic on drugs
…they do the work because they want to re-produce the type of city they want to live- the type of city that is worth living in. … …not all entertainment…
The Pity Party, that is -Dave Foley-
I used to love Dave Foley. Kids in the Hall was one of the most epic variety shows, and Canadian to boot. Then there was News Radio that had awesome
BL2: Resistance is futile
I tried to resist. I really did. I avoided it for more than a year, skillfully averting my eyes from the store shelves where it sat, ignoring the emails with…
From the Blevkog Archives – April 21, 2006: Cultural Relativism: An Example
Note to readers: I’m not entirely sure why, but this has always stood out for me as one of my favorite pieces of writing that I’ve done on Blevkog. This…
Zombies are… Black? Family Feud’s Steve Harvey tells White Lady contestant to ‘Shut up’
Zombies are… Black? Family Feud’s Steve Harvey tells contestant to ‘Shut up, Lady’ (you can tell he is REALLY holding it in…). Help me out here… WHAT IS THIS??? Sometimes
Free choice in communications? (Competition Tribunal says no)
To my surprise and dismay, the Competition Tribunal has approved Bell Canada’s takeover of most of Astral Media’s assets. This comes some time after a similar buyout attempt was rejected.…
House of Cards – American Style
As an inveterate fan of the original 1989 BBC series “House of Cards” I was highly skeptical that it could be successfully adapted into an American context. It had some…
Who’s the jack booted thug?
This new commercial from Wayne LaPierre of the NRA sets an all-time low. You can be absolutely sure that this ad would not have been made if Obama and his…
"Free to Be" — 40 years on
For what I think will be my last post of the year, I wanted to reflect on something I heard about a couple of weeks ago — the 40th anniversary…
The Psychology and Therapeutic Benefits of D&D
Or, Why D&D Kicks Butt There is a mounting body of evidence and experience that shows that D&D, the original role playing strategy game (like chess, but with improv theatre,…