0°Recent Blog Posts - In This Corner
And the winner is … who cares?
The Academy Awards – Oscar to his friends – airs this Sunday. Are you excited? No? OK, mildly interested? No, not even that? Indifferent or openly hostile? Yeah, that sounds more like it. I’m not proud to say that I have been a faithful Oscar viewer since I was a kid. I also have a… Contin...
Published at In This Corner
The Academy Awards – Oscar to his friends – airs this Sunday. Are you excited? No? OK, mildly interested? No, not even that? Indifferent or openly hostile? Yeah, that sounds more like it. I’m not proud to say that I have been a faithful Oscar viewer since I was a kid. I also have a… Contin...
Published at In This Corner
Sorry, Ernest, but I just don’t get you
While scrolling through the TV listings last week (I spent almost as much time looking for something to watch as actually watching), I came upon a new Ken Burns documentary on PBS. (Insert nerd joke here.) I love documentaries, and a Ken Burns doc is an event. Burns is arguably the world’s ...
Published at In This Corner
While scrolling through the TV listings last week (I spent almost as much time looking for something to watch as actually watching), I came upon a new Ken Burns documentary on PBS. (Insert nerd joke here.) I love documentaries, and a Ken Burns doc is an event. Burns is arguably the world’s ...
Published at In This Corner
What to keep, and what to trash: an old man’s dilemma
As regular readers (yeah, that’s you … admit it) know, your humble scribe turned 65 in February. In the course of three score and five years, I have accumulated a fair pile of stuff. As a lifelong newspaper junkie and de facto family archivist (both of my birth family and the family ...
Published at In This Corner
As regular readers (yeah, that’s you … admit it) know, your humble scribe turned 65 in February. In the course of three score and five years, I have accumulated a fair pile of stuff. As a lifelong newspaper junkie and de facto family archivist (both of my birth family and the family ...
Published at In This Corner
Hey, COVID protesters. Here’s a lesson in tyranny.
It has become an almost weekly event here in Alberta, and in other parts of the Mediocre White North, for a small group of malcontents to gather in protest of COVID-19 restrictions. They carry crudely-made signs, and listen intently while someone rants into a bullhorn about the injustices i...
Published at In This Corner
It has become an almost weekly event here in Alberta, and in other parts of the Mediocre White North, for a small group of malcontents to gather in protest of COVID-19 restrictions. They carry crudely-made signs, and listen intently while someone rants into a bullhorn about the injustices i...
Published at In This Corner
Ancient Rome: What every Grade 2 kid should know
The Alberta government has introduced a new social studies curriculum for Grades 1-6 that puts an emphasis on ancient and medieval civilizations and the history of religions. Here is a preview of a Grade 2 class in the not-too distant future. “OK, class, settle down, settle down. Today, we are go...
Published at In This Corner
The Alberta government has introduced a new social studies curriculum for Grades 1-6 that puts an emphasis on ancient and medieval civilizations and the history of religions. Here is a preview of a Grade 2 class in the not-too distant future. “OK, class, settle down, settle down. Today, we are go...
Published at In This Corner
A logophile’s lament …
After many, many decades as a journalist and writer, I have developed a rare condition: I am a logophile, which is someone who loves words. You’ve likely never encountered the word ‘logophile’ before and, to be honest, neither had I. I just looked it up, and it works perfectly. As a logophi...
Published at In This Corner
After many, many decades as a journalist and writer, I have developed a rare condition: I am a logophile, which is someone who loves words. You’ve likely never encountered the word ‘logophile’ before and, to be honest, neither had I. I just looked it up, and it works perfectly. As a logophi...
Published at In This Corner
A cautionary tale about Twitter
Last week, I got a notice from Twitter that I was ‘celebrating’ 12 years on the social media platform. What an accomplishment. Here are my Twitter stats after 12 years. As of March 2021, I have sent out 3,475 tweets. I am following 50 accounts, one of whom claims to be a graduate of ‘Bovine...
Published at In This Corner
Last week, I got a notice from Twitter that I was ‘celebrating’ 12 years on the social media platform. What an accomplishment. Here are my Twitter stats after 12 years. As of March 2021, I have sent out 3,475 tweets. I am following 50 accounts, one of whom claims to be a graduate of ‘Bovine...
Published at In This Corner
Winners and losers of the first COVID-19 year
So here we are, a full year into the Coronapocalypse. It has been (choose your favourite hackneyed phrase) a year like no other, unlike anything we’ve ever seen, a year of the new normal, etc. It will be years before we know the full impact of the COVID-19 catastrophe, but after a year we canR...
Published at In This Corner
So here we are, a full year into the Coronapocalypse. It has been (choose your favourite hackneyed phrase) a year like no other, unlike anything we’ve ever seen, a year of the new normal, etc. It will be years before we know the full impact of the COVID-19 catastrophe, but after a year we canR...
Published at In This Corner
Up next for the cancel cops: St. Patrick’s Day (a parody)
With ‘cancel culture’ taking hold across the world, it’s just a matter of time before St. Patrick’s Day comes under attack. By this time next year, we may be reading stories like this… There is a growing backlash against St. Patrick’s Day, with many organizations advocating for the terminat...
Published at In This Corner
With ‘cancel culture’ taking hold across the world, it’s just a matter of time before St. Patrick’s Day comes under attack. By this time next year, we may be reading stories like this… There is a growing backlash against St. Patrick’s Day, with many organizations advocating for the terminat...
Published at In This Corner
Bombshells! Bombshells! Bombshells!
So, did you hear the explosions going off on Sunday night? According to news reports, a number of ‘bombshells’ went off that night. I slept through them, but I sure heard about them on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. Turns out, bombshells tend to echo for days. Unless you live in a cave (or, ...
Published at In This Corner
So, did you hear the explosions going off on Sunday night? According to news reports, a number of ‘bombshells’ went off that night. I slept through them, but I sure heard about them on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. Turns out, bombshells tend to echo for days. Unless you live in a cave (or, ...
Published at In This Corner
Happy Coronaversary!
Happy Coronaversary, everyone! Yes, it has been one full year since the Coronavirus – eventually renamed the much catchier COVID-19 – first landed in Alberta. The Edmonton Sun welcomed our new disease overlord with the headline: IT’S HERE! Oh, it’s here, alright. And there. And everyw...
Published at In This Corner
Happy Coronaversary, everyone! Yes, it has been one full year since the Coronavirus – eventually renamed the much catchier COVID-19 – first landed in Alberta. The Edmonton Sun welcomed our new disease overlord with the headline: IT’S HERE! Oh, it’s here, alright. And there. And everyw...
Published at In This Corner
Is it time to turn the page on Facebook?
There was important news coming out of Australia lately that has nothing to do with wildfires, kangaroos or Foster’s Lager. The Australian government was locked in a stare-down with social media behemoths Facebook and Google over payment for content they distribute. A bill before the Aussie...
Published at In This Corner
There was important news coming out of Australia lately that has nothing to do with wildfires, kangaroos or Foster’s Lager. The Australian government was locked in a stare-down with social media behemoths Facebook and Google over payment for content they distribute. A bill before the Aussie...
Published at In This Corner
When I’m sixty-five …
In life, there are a number of milestone birthdays. When you turn 13, you’re no longer a child, but you can continue to be childish for a few years. Turning 30 (as my youngest son does next week) sounds monumental at the time, but in hindsight it really just makes your parents feel older. T...
Published at In This Corner
In life, there are a number of milestone birthdays. When you turn 13, you’re no longer a child, but you can continue to be childish for a few years. Turning 30 (as my youngest son does next week) sounds monumental at the time, but in hindsight it really just makes your parents feel older. T...
Published at In This Corner
You are eating things that don’t exist
We all have little things that irk us. It might be when music is too loud at a restaurant, or when drivers don’t use their signal lights, or when bloggers feel obligated to use three examples when making their point. Guess what? I have little things that irk me. And at the top of that…...
Published at In This Corner
We all have little things that irk us. It might be when music is too loud at a restaurant, or when drivers don’t use their signal lights, or when bloggers feel obligated to use three examples when making their point. Guess what? I have little things that irk me. And at the top of that…...
Published at In This Corner
An all-Edmonton blog
In the unlikely event that there is someone outside of Edmonton reading this blog (except for you, Bill) a gentle suggestion: stop reading now. This is for Edmonton eyes only. All others may be bored. So, let’s talk names. Edmonton, like big cities everywhere, is divided into wards. For as ...
Published at In This Corner
In the unlikely event that there is someone outside of Edmonton reading this blog (except for you, Bill) a gentle suggestion: stop reading now. This is for Edmonton eyes only. All others may be bored. So, let’s talk names. Edmonton, like big cities everywhere, is divided into wards. For as ...
Published at In This Corner
