Strong leaders don’t need parades.

Elon & Donnie’s breakup song has to be Musk-Rat Love.

Sorry Google maps. It'll always be the Gulf of Mexico to me.

Last year, when someone installed our new stereo system, they said something that felt only important in a technical sense: “You won’t hear the high notes unless you hear the low notes.” Given how I feel about the world today, those words are far more meaningful than advice about a sound system.

Love seeing Republicans lose their shit because a Christian actually spoke like a Christian in front of Donald Trump.

So in today's America, it's okay to rename the Gulf of Mexico but it's not okay for people to name themselves according to their gender.

Well, this sure took longer than expected. And we even solicited help from Christmas visitors. Strangely, it was perhaps the toughest puzzle we’ve ever done…and we do a fair amount of puzzles.

Random thought: I don’t think a movie can be a true cult classic if it’s made to be a cult classic.

This year’s Christmas haul.

Trump is now calling Trudeau "governor" and Canada "the great state of Canada"? If you think this is a joke, do some research on the far right -- especially Tucker Carlson, who has stated that the US needs to save Canadian citizens from "failed socialism." Not this this one, Tucker. Scary stuff.

I’m far too fidgety to meditate. For me a jigsaw puzzle and a cocktail help clear my mind. This one is Christmas in Paris.

While in NYC last week I was able to get to the Brooklyn Museum to see Judy Chicago’s amazing installation, “The Dinner Party,” a table setting for extraordinary women in history. Stunning.

Really liking this memoir by Oliver Radclyffe

Morning view from the cottage at the writing retreat.

On a writing retreat with two friends.

Next appointment: Doctor Pepper as Surgeon General. He’s responded to backlash by saying he’s “so misunderstood.” Right.

Q & A with Margo Martindale after a TIFF sneak preview of her new series, The Sticky.

Love this.

The thing about Twitter versus Bluesky is that the right needs liberals on Twitter to make it feel worthwhile, whereas the left doesn’t need conservatives on Bluesky to make it feel worthwhile.

“I tried to drown my sorrows but the bastards learned how to swim.” Frida Kahlo

Proof to my Canadian friends that the US is making some good decisions. Miss Vickie’s is now sold in NYC!

Officially deactivated X account. Feels good.

Father/daughter post-reading wine moment.

Returning from a great NYC trip: a successful reading, family time, about 500 bookstores.

In NYC. Spending time with fam and will give a reading Thursday night with some amazing writers at BGSQD @ 208 West 13th Street @ 7:00.

Christmas pile for winter reading

Audra McDonald is the reader for the new translation of The Iliad. Seriously. Is there anything this woman cannot do? Wow.

I stand with the trans community!!

Wow. Gutted after seeing Killers of the Flower Moon.

Sorry to hear about the passing of Terrance Davies, such a unique voice in contemporary film.

Yes, I am the literary nerd who will set his alarm to wake tomorrow in time to hear the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature. I also know that such awards are completely subjective and perhaps even arbitrary. I still can’t help myself.

TIFF 2023 is history. Saw 20 movies in nine days including the winner, American Fiction, a scathing and hilarious look at how marginalized voices are commodified. Based on Perceval Everett’s novel, Erasure. A must see.