Linkin Park rides again

Seven years ago, Chester Bennington, the charismatic lead singer of the hugely successful alt rock band Linkin Park, killed himself. He had a history of depression and substance abuse, and had been deeply affected by the suicide of his good friend (and alt rock god) Chris Cornell two months prior. I thought, as I believe…

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A harsh revelation about Trump’s victory

It was increasingly disheartening for me, as it was for millions (probably billions), as the numbers rolled in on the U.S. election night. I’d heard about the “red mirage” — the tendency for Republicans to do well early as the polls are reporting results, which can give the illusion that they’re racing to easy victory…

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What I read this month

… or more like What I started to read but put down in favour of something else, which I then also put down, and so on, and so on, and so on… am I right? … though that doesn’t lend itself to a great headline. Here’s how October worked out: Read(Ha!) Started and stoppedCrow Winter…

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New game: Spirit Island

I’ve opted to ditch the Isolation Day count for new games we play, given we’ve been out of isolation for a while now so using that metric doesn’t make particular sense any more. At least for now I’ll be rolling with “New game” titles on these posts. Here’s hoping this is the first of many….

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My growing appreciation of Tool

For those not into progressive metal music [glances at most family and friends] who may not have heard of the band Tool, here’s the scoop.*. When the world lost the drumming and lyric-writing brilliance of Neil Peart a few years ago, I was a bit adrift for some time about who else to look up…

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Those classic November… blues?

The new playlist at the LCBO for this period is very blues heavy. Now listen, I like the blues just fine. At no point will I hear any blues song on the radio or streamed somewhere and wish someone would just turn it off or change it to something else.But given the choice, blues also…

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What I read this month

September proved way better than recent months in terms of reading time. Finishing books was a whole other issue, mind you. I didn’t get through one book — not one — but hey, not for lack of trying. Check out what I started and turned out not to be my speed: Started and stoppedFablehaven –…

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What I read this month

I’ve been pretty slammed this month — hey, when you’re still trying to work as much as you can to make up for being on strike for two weeks, and you’re still looking for other work, and your wife and kid head out of town for a week and you’ve got to take care of…

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Never rush

I’ve been unusually stressed on a few fronts recently, and it showed over a couple of days at work when I made some… not great decisions. Not terrible, but certainly reflecting that I wasn’t on the ball. I took full responsibility for it, as I do, and came around to being a bit self-deprecating with…

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