Book Review: Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story
To say that I was glued to this Robyn Doolittle’s book until I was finished reading it would be an understatement. It’s taken me longer to start (and finish) blogging about the book than it took me to actually read it.
Crazy Town us the perfect title for this book. It’s not so much as Toronto being a crazy town as it is a play on the bubble that the Ford family has created for itself over a generation.
Everything that you would expect to be in this book is there. Everything. Including the research process and behind the scenes meetings and conversations between Doolittle and her superiors at the Toronto Star.
What struck me the most about this book were two things that have nothing to do with Ford.
The first is the amount of research and discussions that occur before a word is even typed and subsequently printed. For every piece that Doolittle has written there is literally a team of editors, (sometimes) publishers and even lawyers (especially when reporting on Rob Ford) that need to go over her research and submission. Nothing is left to chance and all sides of the story are discussed and dissected. Reading her book gave me a new found appreciation for the news reporting process that the Toronto Star follows.
The second, and most disturbing, revelation has to do with the seemingly archaic laws in Canada surrounding access to information. Our public institutions (government and public services such as police) gather so much information in the name of the greater public good. However, accessing that information is next to impossible for ordinary citizens such as me. And the media? Well, they have the resources and the knowledge on how to ask and what to ask. Yet even they have the hardest time getting access to information.
As a book, Crazy Town has it all. And by all, I mean everything you could ever want to know about Rob Ford. His parents (enterprising), upbringing (silver spoon), siblings (crazy people usually influenced by drugs it seems), career before politics (nada), his brushes with the law (international and usually involving booze) and his current political life (unbelievable).
This October, Toronto will go to the polls to vote for who they want as their Mayor. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for or not vote for. Unless you ask me. However, I do have one suggestion: READ. THE. BOOK.
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Google Chromecast arrives in Canada on March 19
App Review: Bing News on Windows Phone 8 Nokia Lumia 1020
Like many of you know, I’ve been using WP7 and WP8 for a little while now. Did you know Rogers doesn’t consider the Lumia 1020 a smartphone? Strange. But I digress. I’ve done a few shout outs to apps on Windows Phone in the past. And I think it’s time for another.
The Bing News App is AMAZING. And maybe it’s because of what my options are. But it’s also because it’s a really good app.
I’m a fan of CBC. I love their radio station here in Toronto and I also listen to a number of their shows via podcasts. Recently, their Sochi Olympic app was heavily used by me and I’m sure millions of Canadians. Even their Windows version of the Sochi app was amazing. But this is about news. And the CBC News app used to be good. But now it just plain sucks. Sucks like a vacuum. It’s really just terrible. It used to be updated. I could share stories via Twitter and Facebook. Now? Well, I’m not sure. The last time I tried using it they only supported titles. Yup. That’s all. I could only read titles of stories. Not even the stories show up anymore.
What about Huffington Post? Nah. Most of the stuff is garbage and link bait. At least their Windows app is. Terrible experience.
And I’m not a fan of American news apps. Hey! I’m Canadian!
And then my future brother in law, Earvin, told me about the Bing News app. Bing? Come on!
Am I glad I listed to him. Bing provides a summary page and then allows me to view news from a handful of sources such as Gizmodo and the Toronto Star. I’m also able to pick specific topics for the app to source for me. My choice so far: Blue Jays (of course!).
The only problem that I have seen so far is that any videos accompanying articles don’t show up on the mobile version of this app. Otherwise I give this 4 K’s out of 5.
Concert Review: The Arcade Fire at the ACC
This past March 13th my son, Kahzmir, turned 8 years old! And so, like any other dad worth his salt, I took him to his first legit concert. Actually, that would not be the whole truth, but it’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
We both had a great time. And The Arcade Fire (I think they should drop the “The” from their name, by the way) put on one of the best concerts I have ever been to. It’s right up there with Neil Young/Oasis concert at Molson Park in August of 1996.
The main act started on a raised mini stage at the opposite end of the main stage with an intimate rendition of “My Body Is A Cage.”
After this short opening the main players ran through the crowd to the main stage to start into a loud and rocking rendition of “Reflektor” from their recent album of the same name.
More than anything, Arcade Fire came to rock and have fun. And rock they did. I’m a more recent convert to the Montreal-based band so I can only properly speak to their last 2 albums. The Suburbs was a breath of fresh air for someone who had for the longest time only listened to classic rock. An theme-focused album, The Suburbs was something new and invigorating. Listening to it, you could argue that Arcade Fire was not a rock album but a indie rock album fused with folk music.
Then came their fourth studio album, Reflektor. Now all bets were off. Here was a totally different sound. By this time, I had discovered that I actually knew a number of their older songs such as “Rebellion (Lies)”, “Wake Up” and “Keep The Car Running”. Yet Reflektor was something more. It was everything they were doing before. But now they infused percussion and horns and gave their sound a dance feel. And while others longed for the sounds of old, I was hooked.
Arcade Fire was the band that other successful bands wanted to be. Earlier last year, Pearl Jam also released a new album. Don’t remember? No one else does either. You see, Arcade Fire is not afraid to discover new sounds and experiment. And that’s what I love about this band right now.
That and their ability to rock the heck out! This concert, like I have said, was amazing. Not once did I sit down because of a slow song or a musical pause in the set. The band’s polished studio sound bore no resemblance to the loud and sped up rocking renditions of their hits and favourites. Imagine, after only four albums, this band can put out a greatest hits album if they wanted.
From the reggae inspired “Flashbulb Eyes” and the heavy and fast-paced “Joan of Arc” to the popular “No Cars Go” and dance-infused “Here Comes The Night Time”, this concert started fast and did not stop for over 2 hours. Even their encore break was less than 3 minutes long.
Arcade Fire comes back to Toronto on August 29th 2014.
Oh yeah, Kahzmir had a great time. As an eight year old (barely) I was a little bit worried. After observing the festivities, Kahzmir stayed on his feet for most of the concert. He felt a little tired and slept for a couple of songs. But after the Encore, he danced the rest of the way! #ProudFather
SET LIST:
1. “My Body is a Cage”
2. “Reflektor”
3. “Flashbulb Eyes”
4. “Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)”
5. “Rebellion (Lies)”
6. “Joan of Arc”
7. “Rococo”
8. “The Suburbs”
9. “Ready to Start”
10. “Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)”
11. “We Exist”
12. “No Cars Go”
13. “Haiti”
14. “Afterlife”
15. “It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus)”
16. “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
ENCORE:
17. “Normal Person”
18. “Young Lions” (Constantines cover)
19. “Here Comes the Night Time”
20. “Wake Up”
7 Things To Do With Your Kid During March Break in Toronto
March Break is finally upon us. That means two things.
First, the weather should be improving. I’m not holding my breath on this one. Second, parents (like yours truly) will be scrambling to figure out how to keep our kids occupied, engaged and alive.
Here are SEVEN ideas (as I type this at 12:55am) for you to try. You can thank me later.
- Go to the Royal Ontario Museum. They have a really cool March Break camp. And for those not inclined for a full week of museum programming, they do have drop in sessions.
- The Hockey Hall of Fame is always a popular choice. And this March Break features Olympic hockey!
- The Toronto Zoo has a March Break camp. But cooler than that are baby polar bears. And pandas. Did I mention BABY POLAR BEARS? 🙂
- I’m taking my son to the Arcade Fire concert. Why? It’s his 8th birthday on the 13th. What else should we do? 🙂
- Skating. Looking for public rinks that are open? Check out the City of Toronto website.
- Trails and hikes. Going on hikes to discover Toronto’s urban wilderness will be an adventure you and your kids will never forget. Here’s one suggestion for Monday. Search on your favourite search engine for more ideas.
- There is nothing more rewarding and lasting than reading. And there is nowhere better for that than Toronto’s Public Library system.
Do you have anything else to suggest?
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Concert Review: Paul Simon and Sting at the Air Canada Centre
1986’s Graceland by Paul Simon still remains one of my top ten favourite albums of all time. And Stewart Copeland’s distinctive  drumming while with The Police made it cool for kids like me to air drum.
So when my sister gave  tickets as a present for me to see Paul Simon and Sting (lead singer for The Police for those of you not at “mature” as me) this past weekend, I was more than excited.
While I thought that the sound system could have been improved upon (Neil Young’s last visit to the ACC may have blown a few fuses – I was at that concert too) the two did not disappoint the thousand in attendance.
Both eclectic songwriters performed hits such as Every Breath You Take, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, Walking On The Moon, Graceland, Roxanne, The Boxer (which was a Grade 5 favourite of mine), and You Can Call Me Al.
Watch some of my Vine’s from the concert:
BlackBerry CEO: We’re readying a new flagship phone that will steal users away from Android, iPhone
Interesting. Where have I heard that before…