Derek and I have been looking around to invest in a vacation retreat. Something modest to match our budget. A little place near water we can spruce up and customize. Our summer home when we’re ready to become snowbirds. We’re looking everywhere – from other provinces to other countries. Nothing is off the table. If you’ve explored the cottage areas of Ontario and you don’t have a million dollars to spend, you know how difficult it is to find something affordable close to home. …
So many young people. Millions around the world and even some in my own city, joining in Saturday’s March For Our Lives. Also, Parkland school shooting survivors and others, enduring taunts and ridicule from adult gun advocates. But gathering support from thousands of others. …
I was “let go” from a magazine before I even got started! The Managing Editor hired me to write a column titled Brandt’s Rant and then she left for another job. The new M.E. didn’t see me as a fit for the mag unless I wanted to write about something I have no interest in. And so it goes. …
Radio has given me a voice. It’s been loyal to me even when I wasn’t loyal to it. It’s forgiven me when I was a jerk (and there were times when I was a jerk!) and afforded me opportunities I wouldn’t have found anywhere else. Radio introduced me to some of the most wonderful people in the world, and some of the most famous. They’re not always the same thing. It legitimized me to strangers and gave me confidence until I built some of my own. …
The Oscar-winners for Best Picture and Best Director often leave me baffled. Except for Titanic more than twenty years ago, the winner is rarely the most popular film. The Shape of Water certainly fits that mould. It’s a surreal cold-war tale about a monster from the sea and people on land who can’t seem to connect with others. …
I’m concerned that the new era of openness about harassment, bullying and toxicity is going to have an unintended consequence: driving the sexes even further apart. …
The humble duck plays a major role in my home life. It’s all because of this scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We insert a duck into every conversation that we can. …
Some of the simpler things in life aren’t so simple for many people. Having enough to eat. Being able to look after themselves. People struggle with these things every day. Last week I was asked to help deliver lunches with Meals on Wheels and saw first-hand how important their work is. I’m thankful for the experience. …
I’ve signed the contract with Hibbert & Stiles . The manuscript has been edited. My fifth book is in production to come out as both a book-book and an eBook. Be Our Guest (working title) will be spineless, not in tone but it physical nature. It’s a quick read meant for publicists, talent managers and anyone at all who has an interest in radio and in getting a guest spot on the air. …
Last week, I ate a cricket. I hadn’t planned to but I got caught up in the moment. Ken and I were interviewing a naturalist from the Butterfly Conservancy of Cambridge about their Chocolate Bugfeast that’s on this week. Ken chomped on some chocolate-covered critters and I decided to join in. Â …
The “progressive” part of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives was removed from their name on the weekend. What a mess. The Liberals were the real winners of the PC leadership debacle that elected Doug Ford. …
This week, Throwback Thursday makes way for a Thankful Thursday. …
Girlfriends, remember when we first realized that we could wear yoga pants to do anything and go anywhere and it was fashionable? That was a great day. …
Derek recently narrated a book devoted to the stoicism of Marcus Aurelius. Marcus – let’s call him Marc – on second thought let’s not – lived from the year 121 to 180. For the last 19 years of his life, he was the Roman Emperor. Until Derek got this job, I was unfamiliar with his master work, Meditations, although millions around the world have read it. …
A few weeks ago, I received an email telling me that I was one of ten finalists in the Win A Wardrobe For Life Contest from Joe Fresh. This immediately raised my suspicions, of course. However, I had a clear memory of entering the contest and the attached form wasn’t asking for anything related to my bank accounts or credit card numbers. It looked legit. …
A report last week claims the federal Heritage Ministry is considering a bailout for Canada’s newspaper industry. While the struggling middle-class in that industry attempts to keep its jobs, our Liberal government might reward the CEOs for their greed and self-preservation on the backs of employees. I hope it’s not so. …
It’s possible that I’m falling out of love with my first love: media. Okay, you got me. My first love was Donny Osmond but that was unrequited so it doesn’t count. Media has mostly loved me back even when I thought I was unlovable. Media has kept me guessing, engaged, interested and energized. And it’s not even media’s fault that my feelings are changing. It’s the fault of its wild child, social media. …
Changing the lyrics to O Canada to “of us” from “thy sons” set social media on fire. Here’s a sampling of comments from the CJBK Facebook page. …