Late Adopter

My current TV is a 27″ JVC that I bought for about $300 five years ago. I haven’t yet purchased an HDTV because my current model shows no sign of wearing down. Besides, it’s in colour and everything. Putting David Caruso in HD doesn’t improve his acting at all.

I’ve always been a late adopter. It was years before I bought an iPod (a third generation nano which was destroyed when it went through the wash and it hasn’t been replaced since). Over the weekend, I bought a CD holder for my car visor. I used to have an iPod tuner but it never worked right. Besides, too much fiddling while driving is probably not safe. I do want an iPod (or a Zune for that matter, I’m not that brand loyal) because it’ll help cut down on office distractions. I was also late to Twitter, Facebook, Wii, WiFi, laptops, DVD players, and blogs.

Now there is 3DTV which requires a new $3700 TV as well as $250 glasses. I also think that the glasses would be enough to put someone off. But I’m sure it’ll be a big hit soon enough. Given that I haven’t upgraded my TV yet, I doubt this is something I’ll be buying in the near future.

I’d like to say my reluctance to upgrade all my technology is some kind of principled stand against rampant consumerism but, really, it’s that I just don’t have the discretionary income necessary to support the lifestyle as my pittance of an income forces me to scrape by, week after week, struggling to feed my family as I toil in the salt mines am just far too cheap.

The Royal York

I think it’s fair to say that I have a bit of a fascination with the Toronto of the late 1970′s and early 1980′s. It may be because as a child growing aware that my world extends beyond the newly built shopping mall in East Saint John, there seemed a realisation that things in this country tended to gravitate toward Toronto.

The shows I watched on our two channels mostly originated from – there until we got cable and American TV. That confused me initially – (“I thought our prime minister was Pierre Trudeau. Who’s this Jimmy Carter guy?”). On CTV’s horrible sketch comedy show, Bizarre, or perhaps it was the game show Definition, there used to be a voice-over at the end of the show which said something to the effect of “When in Toronto, guests of Bizarre stay at the luxurious Royal York. Cars used on the show provided by Tilden Rent-a-Car, featuring the all new Chevy Cavalier. In Canada, it’s Tilden!”

The Royal York, to me, was as Toronto as it got. Later in the 80′s, as a long forgotten TV channel devoted to rock videos called MuchMusic came on the scene, the picture became more broad. They had a subway, as shown by the Spoons’ “Romantic Traffic” video. On CBC’s Street Legal, if you crossed Cynthia Dale, you’d find yourself on the business end of her shoulder pads. Clearly, this was a city of some importance.

Someday, I thought to myself, I’m going to stay at that hotel. Perhaps when I’m performing my stand-up routine on the Don Harron Show. I never did become a famous-in-Canada stand-up comedian, which is good because I don’t think my late-in-life shyness could have dealt with celebrity. But thanks to cheap, nonrefundable internet rates, we’re staying at the Royal York next month.

We’re attending the British Isles Show, where we’ll meet up with some folks for that other blog I write for, as well as, hopefully, Antony Cotton and Katherine Kelly, two actors who appear on the The Greatest Television Programme of All Time.

The trip is really an excuse to meet up with friends (and stock up on Hob Nobs) and see a bit of the city. I may be that rare Montrealer who genuinely likes Toronto as I always have a great time when I’m there. Besides, that whole Montreal vs. Toronto thing is so played out, I’d like to think. But then, I’m not a native Montrealer or a native of any big city. I just like visiting cities.

The weekend is also our annual chance to be really, really, really anglo.

For the free exchange of ideas, there must first be an idea to exchange

Tomorrow, American conservative pundit Ann Coulter is scheduled to speak at the University of Ottawa. The campus student federation would like the speech to be moved off campus, citing her previous comments as hate speech. The university’s vice-president would like her to speak, but has written to her to warn of Canada’s laws regarding hate speech.

I have long held an assertion that Ann Coulter is not a conservative pundit but an incredibly convincing and dedicated performance artist for no serious commentator would hold the views that she does. Stephen Colbert’s act doesn’t even touch what she does.

But let’s go with the largely accepted view she actually means what she says. Is that a reason to ban her from a campus? So long as she does not violate any of our laws regarding hate speech, I’d say no. You can’t have a free exchange of ideas without also exposing ideas that most reasonable people would find repugnant.

That said, she doesn’t have ideas. She has a list of outrageous statements carefully chosen for their high impact shock value. She knows it will get her attention and anger people. But she brings nothing of value to the conversation.

So, the speech will likely go ahead as planned. There will be a protest. It will get ugly. She will say something awful. Everyone on Twitter will note the awful thing she said. She will smirk. The end.

So my question is to the University of Ottawa: Why bring her in the first place? Surely there are better American conservatives from which to draw. People who will carefully consider what they say before saying it.

Aren’t there?

*UPDATE* Oh, look. She said an awful thing. Oh, rather, don’t look. She doesn’t need the attention.

Beef, Mushroom, and Guinness Stew

Took this recipe that my mother found in a magazine in Ireland and adapted it slightly. Turned out lovely.

You need:

700g Stewing beef, cut into 1 inch chunks.
2tsp flour
2tbsp olive oil
25g (1oz) butter
2 large onions, diced
5 carrots, peeled and cut into large sticks
200ml (7fl oz) Guinness (half a tall can, basically)
300ml vegetable stock
2tsp tomato paste
2tsp Dijon mustard
2tsp brown sugar
One package of field mushrooms

Toss the meat in the flour. Heat the oil and butter in a large, deep pot over a medium heat and brown the meat a few pieces at a time, removing it with a slotted spoon. Brown it well. Stir the onion into the pan and cook for about 10min until golden brown and beginning to soften and caramelise.

Return the meat to the pan, add the carrots and stir in the Guinness, stock, tomato purée, mustard, sugar and whatever seasoning you like. I just go with ground pepper and seat salt. Bring to the boil, stir well, then cover and simmer for 90 minutes.

Stir the sliced mushrooms into the pot for another hour until the meat is meltingly tender.

Serve with mashed potatoes. And eat the shit out of the stuff.

The last time I had this was in New Brunswick and I used Picaroon’s Timber Hog instead of Guinness so, really, just go with your favourite stout. Really, stew is one of those things where the recipe is a more or less a guideline and I doubt I’d ever do this the same way twice. The only thing I’d change is cooking the beef a little more to get it falling apart.

Duffy

It’s hard to add anything to this, other than Rick Mercer‘s take from his Twitter feed:

Duffy believes media is corrupted by critical thinking – a problem he’s never had. stunned and talking. Best combo.

So to sum up, Mike Duffy:

• Thinks journalism is tainted when people think.
• Publicly reminded Margaret Trudeau of the anniversary of the death of her son, Michel.
• Repeatedly played an interview in which Stéphane Dion was confused by a question.
• Was appointed to the Senate shortly after.

So, if you want be in the Conservatives’ good books, just say whatever pops into your head, but try not to think too much and get a national cable news programme to help the party look good.

Guess that’s working for them so far.