If you're, like me, a longtime patron of The Communist Daughter, its legendary bartender Michael J is up in Stratford for the summer playing trumpet in Death of a Salesman - and he's doing his vinyl night Decide on the B-Side Sunday at the Starlight: www.thestarlightstratford.com/live-music

The new GO Train service from Toronto to Stratford and vice-versa has been announced. Easy to go in and out for a Saturday or Sunday matinee. You can arrive 30 minutes ahead of an 8pm show during the week... More punctual than VIA I imagine, but a little close. assets.metrolinx.com/image/upload...

TVA Sports is currently broadcasting the NHL Draft. This is the final event under its 12-year NHL broadcast deal, and it's still unclear who will have the French-language rights after next week.

Fouad Sahyoun was four years old when his family fled their home in Haifa amid bombardment from encroaching Israeli paramilitary forces in 1948.

To quote the lyrical wisdom of Yihaa, Swedish pop group Dolly Style’s 2025 Eurovision entry: Giddy up, giddy up Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up Come on, everybody, what you waiting for? www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...

Tomorrow's the big crossword in the Globe and I'm getting pumped.

I just did a newer Globe and Mail crossword (I have been working through puzzles from 2020!) and it's SO WEIRD and SO GREAT to have Canadian clues!

This is... evil. deadline.com/2026/06/pepp...

I recently stumbled upon the writings of genocide scholar A. Dirk Moses after reading an article he wrote about the founding of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights - and find his thinking very useful in getting at the limitations of certain debates of recent years. www.dirkmoses.com/uploads/7/3/...

"The Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) will lead a national, non-partisan fundraising campaign"... Good lord, just pay for 24 Sussex Dr. www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news...

Congratulations to Philip Akin, too!

“The only foreign agent here is a horrible Canadian multi-millionaire trying to ruin the environment in our country.”

It always surprises me how big the Bluesky contingent is that believes it is unjust to be even temporarily suspended for calling for or wishing death on enemies.

I'm keeping a running list of my favourite new shows of 2026 - and here's where I am at the halfway point of the year. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/arti...

CBC/Radio-Canada is now a full member of the European Broadcasting Union. One step closer to Eurovision glory.

Pumped Barrie's Talk is Free Theatre is remounting The Frogs - a Sondheim musical I've always wanted to see - at the Theatre Centre in Toronto next year. (And also Madame Minister, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman's super-fun adaptation of a 1929 Serbian farce. Yeah!) www.barrietoday.com/local-entert...

This is one of the nuttiest ledes to a column I’ve ever read.

I genuinely do not understand how a decentralized World Cup was ever supposed to bring all these soccer-mad tourists to individual cities. More people will go to see the Blue Jays in a single homestand than can see the six games Toronto is hosting. www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

Technically, they’re Remains now.

Wordle, five years in, has become about chasing the feeling that I can at least once in a while outsmart the bot and, by extension, AI.

Well, you know my position: The CBC shouldn't have ads at all. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

The Other Bennet Sister is returning for a three-part Christmas special later this year. Huge hit for BBC and BritBox, where it's led to its strongest quarter of subscriber growth ever.

The G&M has published a follow-up story about the lack of any good options for Ontarians who don't have an auto insurance policy to make up for their statutorily reduced accident coverage. That change goes into effect one week from today: www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/pe... #ONpoli

Pretty wild the top two shows on Prime Video are both based on Canadian books right now. Johanna Schneller goes deep with Carley Fortune, whose Every Summer After is the source material for Every Year After. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/book...

Not enough Canadians really know about the Fenian raids (1866-1871) - where ragtag radical Irish republicans kept trying to seize territory here (from the US). in order to hold it hostage to pressure Britain into freeing Ireland. Puts all the diasporic politics today into perspective imo.

Canada is a place where we try to figure out how to share space despite narratives that don't always align. I've come to admire how this museum is a physical place for us to wrestle with the challenges of that ideal. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

Whole bunch of shows from Quebecor's Illico+ got picked up by Disney+ today and are available for the first time with English subtitles there. Looking forward to checking out the spy series IXE-13 and the Mégantic miniseries especially.

Gah!

Cheers went particularly deep into me in after-school reruns - still searching for that bar, but thankfully moved on long ago from searching for Diane Chambers. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...

This is what I needed to situate the Montreal shooting in my mind today, so I share it: It was across the Décarie Expressway from Square Décarie, or a couple blocks south of Namur station. Not far from the Orange Julep.

I'm down to Bluesky and LinkedIn in terms of social media - and the latter was particularly rife with speculation and misinformation today. www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Fifteen years ago, politicians held press conferences about tragic events - and you heard what they had to say and a thousand know-nothings did not then get equal time at the mic.

Begging politicians to get off X - and turn off replies on any and all social media platforms. In this case, Prime Minster @mark-carney.bsky.social’s post about a Montreal shooting several sources report was motivated by incel ideology has become… a vector for misogyny.

A little thread on that Pollara report on trust in media - or its executive summary anyway. Important to note there's a separate page for Quebec media, but ROC results are not separated out. This buoys the overall CBC trust stats and brings down other the English media trust stats. 1/x

This would be encouraging if I were one of the Canadians who found pollsters to be trustworthy.

Went on a road trip to the Victoria Petrolia Playhouse to see Canadian stage legend/legendary grandpa Layne Coleman play in Ed Garage’s. These small-town/rural theatres do such a great job of connecting with their audiences in a joyful way in the pre-shows. Toronto NFP should study (also do 50/50s).

Loved catching The Outsiders direction, design, choreography on tour at Mirvish. The dancing in the gravel is wonderful way to increase the visual and visceral aspects of movement, make visible its danger zone. www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article...

Gave Widow's Bay a second chance and... it is just not for me. Loved the first episode - then it felt like it was doing a similar thing over and over to diminishing returns on both the comedy and horror front. Not enough to bring me back.

I really loved Le bureau des légendes and its very middle-power/French take on spycraft so find this American remake for all its top-notch craft a little too round-peg/square-hole. Just makes me want to go back and listen to Sara Giraudeau say "sismologie" over and over. Newbies seem to enjoy.

Richard Gere would like The Agency on Paramount+ to be more critical of the CIA - and name real leaders like Trump and Netanyahu in the scripts. I'm not sure that would work necessarily but it was fun to talk to him. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...

Happy for Canada tonight. Wait that’s me.

Smart piece by @nestruck.bsky.social. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/arti...

"Teen influencers" should be illegal, actually. www.bbc.com/news/article...

None of this is untrue whatever you think of Leno.

What the…

Why continue to hold power as part of a one-seat majority as a federal MP when you could... run for a seat on a city council constantly undermined by the province?

The occasional outside analyses of perceived bias recco is minor part of this senate report - which is mostly about amending teh Broadcasting Act to add “the reflection of local communities and audiences” to CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

Louis Varland was on tonight.

MAID is a compassionate program that has alleviated a lot of suffering in Canada and allowed people to choose how they exit. I am grateful that we have it. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...