Sometimes it’s a struggle to remember the positive when you’re in the news business. News is, by definition, made up of anomalies and bad things. The sun came up, people helped each other and took care of their families, children got enough to eat – those are the things that are supposed to happen. News is about when things go awry. …
It Walks Like A Duck Read More »
Seattle, Washington. Home of the Seahawks and the Mariners, the grunge music scene of the 1990s, fresh seafood that will make you moan and a long, pretty shoreline. It’s not surprising that they have tourism down to an art form. You can fly in, as we did from Victoria, via Alaska Air. You can take a ferry, as we did back to Victoria. They have light rail from the airport into downtown and bus rapid transit in the core. Uber and Lyft both operate legally alongside traditional cabs. Seattle gets it. Visitors want choices. …
Steepness in Seattle Read More »
Erin Moran never would have made it on a sitcom in this era of instant critics on social media. She was cute but she was ordinary. She didn’t have a 22-inch waist or DD boobs. Unless she could write her own show and work nude, like Lena Dunham, a girl like Erin Moran wouldn’t have been able to stay afloat in the Kardashian sea. It’s simply a sad fact. …
Long Gone Happy Days Read More »
Tall women have long been told that they shouldn’t wear heels, or look taller than men. This is, of course, ridiculous. A female friend who’s 6′ tells everyone she’s 5′ 12″. (She does it as a joke, though.) The crew dug a trench for Nicole Kidman to walk in as she was filmed alongside then-husband Tom Cruise for the 1992 romantic adventure movie Far and Away. And although there wasn’t much the royal spin doctors could do about live appearances of Prince Charles and his wife Diana – except perhaps require her to walk twelve paces behind him – their official portraits were doctored to hide the fact that they were the same height.
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Throwback Thursday – Rising to New Heights Read More »
Many times I’ve wrestled with whether to write about a personal story or situation. If I decide that a revelation can benefit someone else, then it’s worth the price of revealing something about my life. What columnist Leah McLaren wrote for the Globe and Mail last week didn’t meet those parameters but I can’t for the life of me understand why she, and not her editor, was suspended by the paper. …
All Canadians know about the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series in which the NHL proved its supremacy via Paul Henderson’s last minute goal. In 1974, the upstart WHA took on the Russians with a different outcome. The World Hockey Association was attempting to prove it was as good as the National Hockey League and better than the Russians. It had some of the great players but it didn’t have the preparation time that the NHL had enjoyed two years earlier. …
Throwback Thursday – The Hockey Series in the ShadowRead More »
Throwback Thursday – The Hockey Series in the Shadow Read More »
My head is full of details about news stories past and present. We all suffer from information overload but I think it’s different when that info is about your passion, say, competitive quilting. When it concerns the heinous and horrible things people do, it’s not as easy to store. …
Less (Information) is More Read More »
All Newfoundlanders know the history of Joey Smallwood. He was the politician who brought the country of Newfoundland into confederation in 1949. As the rock’s leader of the Liberal Party, Smallwood became its first Premier and sat virtually unchallenged in that office for more than two decades. …
Smallwood, Big Dreams Read More »
Our country turns 150 this year but parts of it are much older than that. In fact, if you talk to Canada’s indigenous people, they’ll remind you that this sesquicentennial marks 150 years of colonialism, not confederation. But I digress. …
Throwback Thursday – I’ve Done 150 Before Read More »
When did we get so sensitive? Did we lose our collective sense of humour while I was napping? I nap almost every day, so that’s entirely possible. What’s with the popular hobby of being offended and outraged where those things don’t exist? …
The Latest in the Outrage Industry Read More »
On Sunday, I received a forwarded email from the head of a racist/white supremacist political party who shall go unnamed. (I don’t want any link to their name on this site.) The President of this awful group was advising members about how to deal with radio talk show hosts. He basically said that talk show hosts are puppets for corporate masters who want to ruin the white race by promoting race-mixing. It was incredibly insulting to broadcasters. It advised the faithful (racists) to see through us and keep calling, using fake names, to get on the air and spew. …
My former work husband, Paul Cook, marks twenty years on the 680 News morning show this week. That’s quite a feat! Some people don’t survive in broadcasting for twenty years, let alone on one of the top-rated morning shows in the country. …
Throwback Thursday – Twenty Years of This-Just-In!Read More »
Throwback Thursday – Twenty Years of This-Just-In! Read More »
Ken and I discussed a T-shirt last week that was drawing fire as racist. It was a Walking Dead-inspired shirt, that depicted Negan’s wire-wrapped baseball bat named Lucille and the character’s threatening words as he decided who to kill in the season six cliff-hanger: eenie meenie miny moe…. …
It’s been some time since I last shared some of my favourite spam. Spammers are getting craftier about trying to slip past the gates of my website comments and onto the live pages. They’re easily identified by their names and fake email addresses, terrible grammar and awkward phrasing. But the fake praise they pile in a heap is worth sharing! …
We are binging on all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls. When the four-part series revival came out last year, I was intrigued, mainly because my friend Lianne is such a huge fan of the show. It’s to the point that she couldn’t bring herself to watch Bad Santa because Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham plays a sexy bartender, nothing like young mom Lorelai Gilmore. …
Nine years ago, my colleague Betty, her daughter Allison and I spent a fun weekend in New York City. Thanks to our former 680 News coworker, Daniela Bilotta who was working at ABC radio in the Big Apple, we were introduced to legendary ABC News journalist Bill Diehl, who got us back stage to meet David Hyde Pierce after catching his hilarious performance on Broadway in Curtains. …
Throwback Thursday – The Real Diehl Read More »
Two words uttered by the Counselor to the President on the weekend scared the heck out of me. “Alternative facts”. That’s what people who deny evolution rely on. The Flat-Earth Society. Those who think the missions to the moon were shot on a soundstage in the Nevada desert. Late Democratic Senator Patrick Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” …
Putting the Con in Conway Read More »
As the 45th President of the US is sworn in today, the oldest first-timer at that, I’m really split on how to feel about it. Part of me wants to take a wait-and-see attitude. After all, there’s a sentiment that says, the electorate never gets it wrong. …