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Feeling angsty? Need some power?
iTunes Genius playlist feature, whereby iTunes create a playlist for you based on a particular song, often isn’t nearly as smart as its name would lead you to believe. Sometimes the results are simply...
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Chopped Canada (or what to do with that freeze-dried shrimp)
I’ve written before—though not for a while—about how I’m not a big Food Network fan, despite liking to cook, and being known to occasionally watch TV. But I have been somewhat taken with Chopped...
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Wonderful tonight
I bought Wonderful Tonight, Pattie Boyd.s autobiography, very much on a whim, from a used bookstore. I was just curious about the woman who married George Harrison (of The Beatles), inspiring him to...
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Looking after no. 1 — in France
At one point, Stéphanie, our guide, affectionately dubbed us “the toilet group.” Because this particular walking group was heavily weighted toward women of a certain age, which meant that we all spent...
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Legally Blonde: Feminism made fun
We somehow ended up with quite a few cultural activities booked in May, the most recent of which was an outing to see the Drayton Festival production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. And it was heck-a...
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Movie review-lets, with bonus thoughts on Muppet gender
We recently watched the 2011 movie, The Muppets, which “rebooted” the characters from The Muppet Show, which ran from 1976 to 1981, and then launched a series of movies. It was fun, especially if you...
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Masters of Sex
Masters of Sex is an hour-long drama that airs on Showtime in the US and The Movie Network (TMN) in Canada. It is about sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson. I’ll admit that it was pure...
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Wild women! Some reviews
It seems apropos to begin with Wild, the movie starring Reese Witherspoon, that we recently saw at the theatre. I was quite looking forward to it, as I’ve really enjoyed every other movie Jean-Marc...
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Award season
Movie award season has come around and I find myself somewhat more interested than some years. If nothing else, at least the talk of movies and actors is a nice distraction from the alarming events...
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To breed or not to breed (redux)
A new book is out called Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids. It seems to be getting a lot of buzz (and selling pretty well). I have not read it, so...
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Movie review: Inside Out
Armed with a gift certificate, we made our way to the unfamiliar confines of the big, glitzy Galaxy Cinema to see the well-reviewed Pixar film, Inside Out. Turns out that the “Pre-show” for a General...
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Movie review – Mad Max: Fury Road
On paper, Mad Max: Fury Road is not my kind of movie. Little sounds less promising to me, movie-wise, than “it’s basically just one big car chase”. Mad Max: Fury Road is, basically, just one big car...
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About my last post
I’ve admittedly had some relapses in my “ignore the election” resolve, but the previous post was actually written before said resolution. I sent it as a letter to the editor, but it appears it’s been...
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Songs of 2015
That I can rather easily put together a list of recent songs that I liked is certainly a change from my usual of being steeped in the music of the past. I can, of course, attribute much of this to one...
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Rebel music: Tanya Tagaq and the KW Symphony
I wasn’t prepared for Tanya Tagaq. Oh, I had my concert tickets, which is good, because both her shows were complete sellouts. And I knew she was an Inuit singer who had her own take on traditional...
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Heart and mind: Brooklyn and The Big Short
Bit late to point this out now, but Brooklyn would be a terrific movie to see on Valentine’s Day. It tells the story of Ellis Lacy (Saoirse Ronan) who immigrates from Ireland to New York City in the...
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Movie reviews: Doris, Ricki, and Bathsheba
It struck me recently that all the movies I’ve seen recently have starred women—in two cases, women over 60. Hello, My Name is Doris is the closest to a current release, and I did see it at the...
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On the songs in our heads
Do you ever get songs stuck in your head? So opened a blog post by Deidra Alexander, fiction writer. (I have not read her fiction. I just follow her blog.) Yes, I do, Deidra. So I expected an amusing...
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Amazonian Olympics
While not entirely glued to the coverage, I’m definitely watching some of it (like that Canada / France women’s soccer game) and trying to keep up with coverage. For all its flaws, one great thing...
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Live and on the CBC
I did watch The Tragically Hip show on CBC television last night. It seemed the thing to do, and I was interested enough. I’m of the age where their music formed the soundtrack of my life, whether I...
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