Your summer reading fix
BOOKS | Get your summer reading fix on. The time is now. Summer’s the best time of year for books. Whether you’re vacationing or just taking advantage of the longer days, reading is ...
The Wonder Spot review
BOOKS | The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank | Penguin Random House, 2005. People think the “sophomore curse” refers to the fact that second efforts in the arts are generally crappier than their ...
As You Like It at Bard on the Beach
EVENT | As You Like It at Bard on the Beach. It’s stagecraft-romantic-comedy time! Welcome courtiers, one and all. Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival is back for its ...
A few short reads (comics and graphic novels)
BOOKS | Short reads (comics and graphic novels). Comics are cool. I’m not necessarily talking Marvel, but even just a few images can make a tome of endless text seem more accessible. Yet ...
A world of blogs
BOOKS | A world of blogs. [2018: This just cracks me up. Some of my old content is just SO DATED. Not as dated as this piece, thankfully, but dated.] Not into blogs? You should be. Blogs are ...
Everything bad is good for you
REVIEW | Everything Bad is Good for You, 2005. This just in: TV makes you smart. At least, according to Steven Johnson’s new book, Everything Bad is Good For You, it does. Wait, it gets better. ...
Interview with psychic Dougall Fraser
INTERVIEW with psychic Dougall Fraser | Dougall Fraser is having a bad day. He’s been up since 5 a.m., he’s jet lagged, and there’s a problem with his hotel room. He’s ...
Sarah Vowell Q&A, Assassination Vacation
Sarah Vowell Q&A | Who is Sarah Vowell? She’s been compared to Lisa Simpson. She was the voice of Violet in Pixar’s The Incredibles. She used to be a rock journalist, and now she writes ...
Read this, sound smart
BOOKS | Read this, sound smart. Never stop learning. If anything, that’s what growing up with Oprah taught us. Alas, between everything else we already have to do and deal with – jobs, families, ...
Saturday by Ian McEwan not your typical day
REVIEW | Saturday by Ian McEwan | Knopf/Random House. A day in the life of a middle-class guy in the modern world? Total cliché, right? Well, yes, but while the premise of Ian McEwan’s novel ...
Harlequin girl
CULTURE | Hannah Guy is a Harlequin girl. Throbbing manhood? Member? Shaft? Actually, in the world of Harlequin, those words are out. According to Hannah Guy, 30, a Toronto freelancer who creates ...
Teen Angst poetry: so bad it’s good
INTERVIEW with Sara Bynoe | Teen angst poetry. Ex boyfriends are good for something after all. At least, Sara Bynoe’s was. The 24 year old Vancouverite is about to set off on a multi-city book ...