RIP, Doug.

Last communicated with him in an email exchange – about rock’n’roll, not politics.

That tells me he had his priorities straight. My condolences to his family and many friends.

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I don’t have any skin the BC ‘2013 game. I’ve got friends in both war rooms, and I think they’ve all run impressive campaigns.

Adrian Dix was assisted by the fact that he’s no Glen Clark-style Dipper: he’s a centrist New Democrat, more like Roy Romanow than his former boss. On the other hand, he was hurt by his less-than-stellar debate performance, and his naive promise to stay “positive” when his opponent had been going neg, big time.

Christy Clark? Well, she’s a perfomer. I’ve known her since she was a Liberal staffer in Ottawa – but, then again, I didn’t. With Christy, I never really knew who or what she was: a Martinite? A Chretinite? Right? Left?

When she started chumming around with Stephen Harper and Preston Manning, I had had enough. It wasn’t that she was a conservative, per se. My problem was that she was, in her core, without a core. She was fake. She was phony.

Clark, at the campaign’s end, deserves to lose because you just don’t know what she believes in – or if, in fact, she believes in anything at all. She’s an actor, but not a leader.

Anyway. The mechanics of the thing are all against her: the NDP vote is much more efficient in BC than Easterners realize. And it’s concentrated in the Lower Mainland, too. Dix, therefore, is going to win.

Read my almost-boss Gary Mason on it, here. He gets it.

The desire for change, when it starts, is hard to stop. Change is coming to BC, and that is good thing.

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I got the new BlackBerry Z10. It’s alright, I guess.

Problem: unlike on the reliable old 9900, I can’t figure out how to share Web links on the Z10 directly to WordPress.

Any charter members of Team Propellerhead care to help out? This puppy’s got me stumped.

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…but, apparently, it has become a criminal offence in Toronto.

Assaulting a kid with developmental issues, and breaking his collarbone, meanwhile – that should be illegal.

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I’m no fan of celebrities, but I thought this story was uniquely Canadian (and Toronto): black, white, Jewish, American, Canadian, and millionaire rapper.

Sounds like us.

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Tried to post it on that Vine thing. Didn’t work. So imagine this on a perpetual loop.

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Yes, you read that right.

I am never, ever shocked.  Honestly, nothing shocks me.  But this shocked me.

Back story: a few days ago, my pal Nadwuar got in touch with me via Twitter.  Wanted my email.  Sent it to him.  Didn’t hear anything else.

Then Simon at Ugly Pop sends me this, this aft, about the Palma Violets – one my fave new combos, to whom I was introduced by Jian Gomeshi.

 

Holy crap. I literally watched that vid with my mouth hanging open. And it was true, too – they cover the Nasties, here, and it has been written about in places like the Washington Post, here.

And so, you might ask, how did I not know this, given that the Palma Violets were in town a few days ago? ‘Cause we were pooped, and we decided not to go. So I missed it.  I MISSED IT.

Not again. Next time they are near Canada, we’re goin’.

Wait’ll I tell SFH about this tonight. Maybe now Rolf will agree to cover Nasties’ tunes.

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This is starting to look like a ritual humiliation of a veteran reporter who doesn’t deserve it, at all.

Oh, and the “award-winning” guy giving everyone civics lessons?  His M.O. is to call at the last minute, and to be as general as possible.

Everyone makes mistakes.  Admit ’em, apologize, learn, and move on.  This kind of public shaming isn’t necessary, or wanted.

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I still love the Menzingers, but me (and my kids) love these guys the most.  The are the best-est.  They are godlike geniuses. Buy all of their records, now.

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You can be book-smart, but that doesn’t actually mean you are smart.

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