Someone at the wonderful @theresthistory.bsky.social has decided we'll pay more attention if Tom & Dominic do the ads. I'm delighted: they seem on the verge of snorting laughter & have not decided between them how to pronounce Adobe. I believe this is called "taking the piss"? 10/10. No notes.

4 month supply, huh we'll say what Sophie says about that unlikely claim

teaching some psych research this week and APA citations are just adding to my work since "no man is an island" is cited as "(Donne 1975)" and actually is cited as "no [person] is an island," making the historical puzzle I have to unravel even more surreal, because y'know, 1624 . . .sigh *I 🩵 MLA*

These kids. These amazing kids. Although, yes, young adults. Great great helpers.

My lovely university, CMU, is having a birthday. And singing about it, of course. 💚

a wee smooch for my advance cheque for a new novel

today I was seriously killing it in a class on Wordsworth's Immortality Ode so you know who to call if you need the heat brought to your next Wordsworth discussion

really love the YouTube fixit tutorials that are like it's really simple you just remove these 18 tiny screws and also the extra tiny one hidden under this thingy that only a toddler's hand can reach

Redford made watching someone type or sit at a lunch counter exciting. Will be so missed.

difficult, bumpy week so it's time traveling time for me to see if this is as good as I remember and if it is I might wallow in all the box sets for quite some time, over and over

tried to do some diy repair stuff on my dishwasher based on my belief that if there's a screw and you have a screwdriver, green light means go I'll let you guess how the remainder of the story goes

I'm not ashamed to admit that I watch the wonderful "Em Dash" video by @ellecordova.bsky.social over and over www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKsP...

Idea: go to The Forks, maybe have some mini donuts and then go to the cute mini McNally Robinson & buy my book www.mcnallyrobinson.com/978199877923...

sometimes I forget that I recently published a book of poems and people need to be reminded to buy it

as an aside, I was delighted that the skill testing question / proof of purchase part of this class action claim was basically "name a loaf of bread"

Super excited about the class action bread settlement, for which I just registered with exceeding ease. Will look forward gleefully to my payment, likely to be of exceeding teenytininess. (Go to canadianbreadsettlement.ca)

today there was a baby visiting my classroom and she was super good during our discussion of the poetry of William Blake and indeed I found her presence inspirational You're never too young to be a Romantic

I haven't seen the new Frankenstein & am envious of my kid's screening at TIFF but it sounds like someone has finally read and honoured Mary Shelley's novel--with its complex, often noble Creature... here's my son's review A ★★★★★ review of Frankenstein by Theo on Letterboxd boxd.it/b1MKV1

in the continuing saga of Winnipeg Transit buses with non-functioning digital signs for upcoming stops, well it's continuing & since we're still getting used to the new routes, sometimes it's not easy to know where stops will be, so, uh, please fix?

I don't know if I was on the same Winnipeg Transit bus today as I was on yesterday but both of them featured a street announcement sign that was frozen on one street forever so It's good that I've lived here for 25 years and more or less know where i'm going

this platform exists for my son and I to affirm one another also @letterboxd.social could be worse

"spoke" with two different robots re CAA towtruck today & it was tedious but ultimately successful & at least someone programmed the most recent one to finish with "I hope you have a better day "

today after about 5 hours of sleep, nursing a bruised toe and calf, temporarily losing my wallet, cell phone & earrings, I was the recipient of the phrase "catastrophic engine failure," caught a bus home & decided to eat a LOT of Shreddies with a LOT of brown sugar

I haven't quite got my head around Sacrifice yet, a stellar film at TIFF2025, but meanwhile my perceptive son has good things to say. A ★★★★★ review of Sacrifice by Theo on Letterboxd boxd.it/aZPLuD

Goodbye to TIFF, where directors probably shouldn't be allowed to talk, audiences applaud the appearance of producers' names on screen, and I'm leaving this one behind to watch 11 more films.

If I had a better camera I could prove that this is Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Vincent Cassel at the TIFF premiere of Romain Gavras's wild ride of a film, Sacrifice. But it is.

Our first TIFF film, The Choral (beautiful), and a nice long conversation with producer Kevin Loader (L), director Sir Nicholas Hytner (R), and one of my favourite actors, Roger Allam. Also me & Theo.

our first day at TIFF and my first audible gasp as I caught a glimpse of Cillian Murphy

FINALLY! a Miriam Toews book about Health & Fitness.

Very impressed with a couple of first-year students who sought me out before the term started to introduce themselves. Brave. And smart.

Why do people in movies remove t-shirts by gripping them in one place at the back of the neck and pulling them off from back to front? I take off a t-shirt by crossing my arms in front, gripping the bottom front at each side and up and over to the back. Eminently sensible. Am I a mutant?

I'm starting to understand why other publishers (book and periodical) are so adamant about their dogmatic instructions: DO NOT email us about your manuscript. DO NOT phone us. DO NOT submit your manuscript in Pages, Cuneiform, or Excel spreadsheets. Sympathy, my publishing siblings. I now get it.

My son's spot-on assessment of the cake problem. A ★★★½ review of The Thursday Murder Club by Theo on Letterboxd boxd.it/aV7zrX

hey Cineplex if no one turns up to your Jaws showings this week, it's because your website turns up "no showtimes" when the movie is searched for, although I know it's being shown this week

Gimli beach is sizzling this afternoon

As a teen, I read Patrick Leigh Fermor's sui generis memoir of walking across Europe, starting out in 1932 when he was 18. I read it again I think in my 30s. And now, reading it again, I still don't know what jezail means. Or puggaree, noctambulism, ilex, clerestory, caracoling... but what a book.

It's always a pleasure to see how my nation is represented on American TV. Almost always affectionately, even if details are a little off. (Pictured here: Lucifer, 2017)

This is Thanos. He has figured out how to rest and babysit at the same time. Very impressive, very Montessori. 13/10 (TT: thanosthesaint)

getting ready for my 19th century literature course & the latest edition of the Norton Anthology has omitted Cardinal Newman What!? I love his "Idea of a University"even if it uses the notion of education creating "gentlemen"-- I just count myself among them 🎩

have reduced my Mailchimp newsletter creation time from about 2 days to 4 hours. Ha, old dogs, new tricks, doing great.

is it just me, or is it actually really disturbing how often arts granting agencies want to offer money for feasibility studies, consultants, PD courses, planning exercises etc etc when of course artists just need support to make and promote and distribute, um, y'know...A R T ?

How many @atbaypress.bsky.social poets can you name?

For those who know me, here's a surprising photo in white, and I made it in time, just before Labour Day

my friend Al & I have discovered Darling Bar hidden away in the Exchange & may never want to go anywhere else

getting ready for the 100th birthday party on December 13, 2025 that you're throwing for Dick Van Dyke? (if not, come to the one at my place) here's a 1961 reminder of why I'll be celebrating www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdef...

today was an accidentally deleted Office from my computer, lost my travel coffee mug, and missed getting my garbage bins out in time kind of day

I have just been alerted to the fact that the TIFF website adjusts to the time zone of wherever you currently are. So I have now built myself a film viewing schedule, which is on Winnipeg time. In other words, of no use for my Toronto festival-going.

The country’s most famous houseplant is missing. What did Trump do with it?

am having a Hey shut up with uour annoyingly noisy gas lawnmower I'm trying to listen to exquisite chamber music of the early Renaissance kind of Saturday