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A Practical Reason to Love Ebooks

I could well belong to the last generation that does this. I’m putting real books into storage. There I am, sitting in front of nineteen Rubbermaid containers with a thousand books I’ll be shipping off to a storage unit until such time as I have a place to live with room enough to set them [...]

Attack of the Killer Posters

If I see another posterized snippet of wisdom on Facebook, I think I’ll blow chunks. Download a full-sized copy of my wise poster to share with all your friends. Gandhi image provided via Steve Fernie (CC), thanks. (Note: I recognize the paradoxical nature of my poster. Life is such a puzzle.)

My eNovel, The Land, Is Now Free

Now, for a limited time only–and by limited I mean “for as long as the human species is not extinct”–readers can download my enovel, The Land, for free. It’s written with a doff of the hat to Cormac McCarthy and the “southern grotesque” style of story telling. It includes the three F’s: farming, funerals, and [...]

Billy Collins does TED!

Express Yourself

I haven’t posted much on my blog for the past two months. It’s not that I’m afraid of what people will think about my writing. It’s more a case of being afraid that I’ll be misunderstood. Sometimes, I would rather say nothing than be misunderstood. But I inadvertently heard an oldie but goodie from Madonna [...]

Graffiti Mural Time-Lapse in Victoria

I recognize this wall from a visit to Victoria last September. At the end of the video, the camera pans the wall and you can see a face by the KWOTA crew on the side of the building. That tipped me off that it’s near Douglas and Bay St. There used to be circus themed [...]

Can Farm Animal Pasta be Vegan?

Friends who know about my intolerance to gluten (and my love of irony) brought over a box of gluten free Farm Animals Rice & Corn Vegetable Pasta which is a vegan product. But is it really vegan? Once you cook it up and put it in a bowl, aren’t you eating animals? And how do [...]

Box of Books

While walking my dog, I passed a box of books by the curbside. As is my habit, I paused to scan the titles and three caught my attention, not because I want to read them, but because my heart goes out to anyone who needs to. All three concern bereavement for the death of an [...]

My Neighbour’s Christmas Tree

Early last year, I had posted a photo of a neighbour’s lawn done with astro turf. The grass is indeed greener on the other side of the fence, even in winter. However, he has put out a real Christmas tree for the chipper this year. I would have thought a man who has an astro [...]

Writing advice from Bo Catlett (Elmore Leonard)

Almost two years ago, The Guardian published 10 Rules of Writing from Elmore Leonard. Leonard is famous for his allergy to adverbs and his advice in The Guardian includes the usual harangue. But Leonard goes further and issues a fatwa against the word “suddenly” and against adverbs that specifically modify dialogue words like “said”. Being [...]

Annual Literary Housekeeping

Every year begins with certain literary rituals. The first is to pay homage to Public Domain Day – the acknowledgment of literary works which have passed into the Public Domain and therefore are no longer subject to copyright law. Because copyright terms vary from country to country, one must be careful. In the U.S., for [...]

The Vox – Kobo Launches a Tablet eReader

A year and a half ago, Toronto-based Kobo launched a bare bones eReader to give its biggest competitor, Amazon, a run for its money. It was a decent offering supported by a decent library (2.2 million titles and counting) especially when you consider the behemoth it was battling. See my review here. Kobo followed up [...]

You Can Observe A Lot Just By Watching

I observed this sign on the wall beside the door at 457 Bathurst St., Toronto. The location looks to be abandoned or at least between tenant/owners. In that tautological Yogi Berra sort of way, these are words to live by. Now pay attention!

Occupy Toronto – Day One

So it begins. The Occupy Movement rolls into Toronto. I couldn’t get to the kick off in the financial district, but went to St. James Park in the early afternoon. Below are a few photos and comments. You can view more photos on my flickr space. Early on, I saw a sign I liked:  “Let [...]

RIP Steve Jobs

At the news of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ death, I pulled out my very first Mac and held an interment ceremony. This is one of the original 128k RAM Macs. No hard drive. It boots from a 3.5 inch floppy disc. I bought it in 1984 after I saw one at a trade show. I [...]