All day, I've been thinking about endings, how I always want them to be "right." Not "good," not exactly "perfect." I always want an ending that pulls together all of a story's characters and action, makes its meaning clear, whether it's the one about the best records of the year, the one about "How Bush Did It," or the one I'm working on for the Review. It's not just an ending, but "the end," I'm after.

Most stories, of course, have no such thing. Most especially, right now, the one about the tsunami, also on my mind all day today.

Posted by at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Magazine blogs about the best and worst columnists of 2004.

On the top:
Chantal Hebert:A+
Paul Wells: A

On the bottom:
Jeffrey Simpson: D
Barbara Kay: F

Who are your favourite columnists?

Posted by at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two Toronto weeklies. One band. Two articles. The same lead!

Now and Eye both interview my current favourite band, the Stars. Both writers, Sarah Liss and Tab Siddiqui start off asking: you say you want a revolution?

Oh damn!

On a mostly unrelated note, between you and me, I've got to ask, can you tell the difference between Now and Eye anyway? Which do you prefer and why?

Posted by at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So we've got cameras in Iraq, blogs for those who can't wait to file, and digital recorders smaller than a pen. With all of these technological "miracles," the stress is on journalists to get the news fast, faster, fastest. The public expects to know NOW, not five minutes from now. So I found it a little odd that, when I asked a certain columnist to fax me a copy of his notes for Front of the Book purposes, he said he would rather mail them in because he didn't know how use a fax. What further baffled me was that he asked, on two separate occasions, what I meant by a "cover letter thing." Understandably, people don't always use fax machines, and every one is different. But to completely avoid it ensures that you will never learn how to use one. In the end I convinced him, but it made me wonder, perhaps we depend on technology too much?

Posted by at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What's with the CBC and poutine? More specifically, giant poutine parties?

Toronotians can take part in "The X Poutine Party" at Yonge-Dundas Square on Saturday afternoon. The event will be hosted by the CBC youth show, The X, and aims to be the largest poutine e v e r. The info page fails to mention how big this big poutine will be, but I expect it to be over 300 lbs of potatoes, 22 kg of curds and 40 L of gravy. That's how what Maisonneuve and CBC cooked up at October's Montreal Matters.

Two very large public poutine parties hosted by the CBC in two months. Is this what Stephen Harper meant when he said the people's broadcaster was a waste of money?

Where's my giant fork?

Posted by at 02:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

sometimes i get to wondering, what of those people with whom i attended high school? or, i wonder what my kooky coworker is hiding underneath all that makeup? google (now a verb, as in, i googled you) has made it possible for you to do a little digging about your friends/enemies/coworkers, et cetera. that might be fun - til you realize people could be googling you.

so, i decided to google myself to see what people might find. for the most part, it's all good fun. i wrote some articles, and oh, there's a link to a cute picture of me. but what about a few months from now, when i'll be actively searching for a job? will i regret that article i wrote in first year the night before it was due? what about that stupid ad i put up years ago to rent out my apartment? what about this very blog, googlable, posted without the benefit of a copy editor? oh no!

it's as if every skeleton in your closet is now here to confront you forever and ever, amen. i gotta watch what i put online!

Posted by at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)