Tag: Reckoning

Weekly Reckoning: Authoritardian Edition

weekly-reckoningGood afternoon, everyone! Can you believe this weather we’re having? No. No, you cannot believe this weather we’re having, because weather is only the visible aspect of a system so complex that it embodies the paradox of chaos as the avatar of such an incomprehensible and terrifyingly sublime order that we can only understand it as transcendent perfection. It may be most useful to say “No, I can’t believe this weather, but I do believe in this weather.” Then, when your friend gives you the quizzical side-eye, hand him or her a little photocopied pamphlet with smeary illustrations and walk on.

Let’s have some news.

1. “CANADA HAS FAILED TO UPHOLD THE HONOUR OF THE CROWN” Strong words from Matthew Coon Come on Canada’s intransigence on aboriginal issues and our ongoing shabby performance on the global stage.

2. A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE AUTHORITARDIAN MENTALITY So it seems that a gay employee at a Taco John’s restaurant in South Dakota was given a name tag that said “GAYTARD” in big block lettering. Note to abusive employers: be subtle about your deranged bullying and don’t leave a paper trail. Which in this case is a name tag.

3. KIRBY ESTATE SETTLES WITH MARVEL Well, that only took forever, but it seems that the estate of the man who helped create of Marvel’s most enduring (and profitable) characters will be getting some piece of the action.

4. “BITTERSWEET,” MRS. FORD MUTTERED, AND DISAPPEARED INTO MEPHITIC CLOUDS OF BARBECUE SMOKE THAT HUNG OVER THE CROWD AND COHERED LIKE SOME GASEOUS ORGANISM OF PURE PROTEIN Rob Ford made his first public appearance since his cancer diagnosis at the annual Ford Fest barbecue. Reporters were on hand to collect comments.

5. PEOPLE STILL AWFUL A Saskatoon church cancelled a funeral after a volunteer told the deceased’s wife that they ‘did not want his kind there’. Apparently the obituary photo of the not-alive and not-likely-to-bother-anyone man depicted him wearing a Sons of Anarchy t-shirt. It’s not clear whether the volunteer mistook the deceased for a gang member or just really disapproved of the creative stagnation that set in on the TV show around season five.

Weekly Reckoning

weekly-reckoning1. YOUR BOOM HAS BEEN DELAYED BY INCLEMENT WEATHER The provincial government is withdrawing $135 million from its “rainy day fund” to patch up a few leaky holes in its budget. The hole is called “potash revenues that we were so sure about because primary resource economies are so endlessly resilient.” At least we have a rainy day fund.

2. IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA, CUSTOMS BLOCKS YOUR FREE DRUNK My favourite story from Sochi so far – even more than mass canicide or dangerous face water – is the Molson beer fridge that only opens for people with Canadian passports. It turns out, though, that the fabled fridge is largely empty. Russian customs is apparently holding up the delicious, delicious beer at the border.

3. BLACK MARKET STARBUCKS! More Sochi weirdness: squirreled away at NBC headquarters in Sochi is a secret Starbucks with 15 baristas (Starbucks is not an Olympics sponsor, so they’re forbidden from having any official presence at the games). I guess NBC didn’t get the news (zing) that Starbucks coffee is pretty lousy.

4. SO MUCH FOR 3D PORN It seems that 3D pornography is just not delivering on its “promise”. Much like strapping men who deliver pizzas to oversexed women in satin underwear, only to accept money and move on to the next address.

5. A FAREWELL TO STADIUMS. STADIA? Here’s a tale of what happens to aging stadiums. Stadia? Lots of photos! Much graffiti. So dead tech.