Columns
Dedicated readers of this space know me as a card-carrying former member of the video store workforce.
It has been exactly one week since the idea of a Betty White statue was introduced here, and already the community is bracing itself for what can only be described as organized chaos with a hint of civic ambition.
Watching MS NOW program host Rachel Maddow speak about her podcast Burn Order, dealing with the U.S. treatment of California's Japanese population during World War II...
New life, Hiding out in the open, A moment of clarity
With the arrival of winter comes the task of shoveling snow. One chore that most modern householders are spared from is that of creating a route to the little house behind the big house.
At the beginning of each year, there is an expectation that intentions will be declared.
Last year I started a bit of an interlude series in the vein of The Righteous Gemstones - a Danny McBride vehicle that had, every season, one interlude episode that went back in time to tell a prequel story for one or more of the characters - that I...
How do you judge United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy? Is he a brave man willing to stand up for what he believes, no matter how unpopular that is, or is he an egotist, sure he knows more than doctors and medical...
Dearest Sister Rebecca,
Thank you for communicating to me about the passing of our dear mother, Sarah Ritchie Findlay. She lived to a great age of 77 and I am so sorry that she was unable to visit us here in Ontario as she had so wished to do
In my first column of 2023, so almost two full years ago, I wrote about my ongoing obsession with listening to Leonard Cohen, much to the dismay of a co-worker at the time who said that, due to the frequency at which I would listen...
Unless you have been reading The Chaff with the kind of attention usually reserved for cereal ingredients and parking signs, this column may come as a surprise.
To change the words of the Irving Berlin classic, first sung by Bing Crosby in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, I'm dreaming of a green Christmas, just like the one I used to know.
Unspeakable tragedy, No, thank you, Selfless heroism
Way back in the dawn of time (as far as our current understanding of the internet is concerned), there was a video of an American lawyer - randomly with a gun in a side holster - explaining the world of women to the internet-active public at large.
Owing to our collective desire for a Christmas season filled with competence, clarity and the gentle hum of civic improvement, we present this comprehensive guide to gift giving for people who wish to elevate the act far beyond the annual panic...
A story on CTV London caught my attention last week as people toured the old Logan's Mill in Brussels before a fundraising effort to turn the water-powered mill into a museum.
Hard to fathom, What took so long?, Inspired to imagine
Last week's column was "No one asked for this". Well, guess what - no one asked for this either. But I did promise to return with an expensive box set of b-sides, rarities and live tracks, though you could get it cheaper if you wait for that...
Yowling winds rattled the stained-glass windows of Parliament as the federal government unveiled its boldest infrastructure plan in the nation's long and occasionally coherent history: the The Chaff pipeline, a gleaming cross-country conduit...
As I stared out the window of my more-than-100-year-old farmhouse last week on the day the weather was forecast to turn from pleasant in the morning to windy and snowy later in the day, I thought about how much more we know today about weather...
Raging to the bottom, Kill 'em with kindness, Missing the point
For sports teams of all sorts, coming up with a suitable name can take an interesting path. It must be a name that inspires the players and also helps fans to identify the team.
Amanda Dobbins and Sean Fennessey, on their podcast The Big Picture, are working through the top 25 movies of the last 25 years. An ambitious project with a lot of rules and expert knowledge; they also restricted themselves to one film by one director...