Barr vs. Bee: did the punishments fit the crimes?
After all these months of stories about men behaving badly, it was about time that women had a chance to behave like complete a-holes. Equality take a long time, but…
Film and TV
The Return of Stuff Happens, week 27: The right moves; Spicer quits, comics cry.
Well, that was decisive. The Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives — the Hatfields and the McCoys of Alberta politics — agreed to a merger on Saturday. And it wasn’t even…
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 29: Donald Trump’s Lying Circus
OK, let’s recap the week at the Republican National Convention. Be prepared, this makes for depressing reading. The week began with Antonio Sabato, a former underwear model, little known actor,…
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…
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…
Why I’ll be last in line for the new Star Wars movie
You may or may not have heard this, but a new Star Wars movie comes out this week. It seems like its kind of a big deal, just a little…
Stuff happens, week 19: Debbie does disgrace; gold for Canada; Edmonton icon passes
For the third week in a row, Deborah Drever reigned as Alberta’s most talked-about NDP MLA. Or, more to the point, Alberta’s most talked-about former NDP MLA. The last straw.…
It’s TV’s golden age … except in Canada.
There is no doubt that we are living in a golden age of television. Once looked down upon as a lesser form of entertainment in relation to the lordly world…
Best picture nominees an unimpressive lot, but somebody’s gotta win, so …
As a longtime Oscar watcher (the awards show, not just some guy named Oscar, which would be creepy), let me just say this to start my annual (as in second)…
Mad Men: The tobacco industry’s 60-minute infomercial.
Don Draper, circa 1965. There is a lot of buzz pop cultural circles these days about the Sunday return of Mad Men, the wildly acclaimed but little watched (although it’s…