Tag Archives: obituaries

The Lives They Lived: Maurice Sendak

I can’t embed this lovely video, but it’s worth a trip through the paywall (or the 10 free articles per month wall) at the New York Times to see it.  Christoph Niemann brings his usual sensitivity to an already-sensitive subject: Maurice Sendak’s emotional interview on Fresh Air. Go. Now. And bring a hankie. The Lives […]

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Margaret Thatcher – As It Happens

I waited for hours yesterday to hear Billy Bragg’s reaction to Thatcher’s death. (He’s in Calgary and slept through all the cell phone messages relaying the news.)  Not disappointed in the final word, courtesy of As It Happens. Margaret Thatcher allowed cynicism and greed to come out from under its ugly stone and become part […]

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Hefner – The day that Thatcher dies

The good die young, so it’s fitting that Margaret Thatcher lasted to 87. Hefner – The day that Thatcher dies – YouTube.

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Some thoughts on the death of Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert is memorialized by Scott Tobias, one of my favourite movie reviewers. As this obituary shows, you can fill at least part of the void left by The Great Ebert by checking out the AV Club, where Ebert’s disciples carry on his work. Now, please pardon my indulgence as I break obit form and […]

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A Brother And Sister Get Married

As comedian John Fugelsang recalls, all in life was dandy until one fateful day, at age 6, he noticed an odd motif in some photos: “In every family picture … my mother was wearing a habit.” Last August, he tweeted his parents’ unusual love story — with photos — on the first anniversary of his […]

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TVO | TVO Announces Plan That Looks to Future

When I gave up my TV a few years ago, one of the biggest regrets was that I was also giving up Saturday Night at the Movies. The show and its antecedents were family traditions dating back to my earliest memories – the late Elwy Yost felt like an uncle I got to see once […]

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So Long, Sam

Guitarist Randy Bachman said that he was always eager to visit the Yonge Street store. “Sam Sniderman was truly everyone’s friend,” he said in statement to CBC News.” As kids from Winnipeg all of us in The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive couldnt wait till our next Toronto visit and go to his store. It […]

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RIP Adam Yauch

Adam Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, has died. Grieving commentators on the AV Club’s news report pointed to this amazing video for Shadrack as a memorial. The fact that a screechy white-boy rap band could conceive of a video so unusual and artistic should’ve been a good indication than there was a lot […]

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Fatalism

This chart showing all the ways Canadians died last year is pretty neat.  I’m just trying not to think about the fact that, at some point, I will be added to one of these dots.  Syphilis and Lawnmower look pretty underrepresented. Maybe I can aim to boost those numbers? http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/05/graphic-so-many-ways-to-die/

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Canada Eliminates Penny

Canada’s eliminating the penny, a coin which I happen to like. (Seriously, why not get rid of the nickel instead?) Even worse, this is their reasoning: “Pennies take up too much space on our dressers at home,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in the text of his budget speech in Ottawa. “They take up far […]

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