CanCult.ca

I’ve got a family crisis that’s taking up a lot of my time and mental stamina, as well as a baby that tries to smother himself every time I turn around, so I need to take a break from posting here while I get things sorted out. I’ll keep on with the updates at peterdarbyshire.com and hopefully get back to posting here when life returns to normal.

OMG — successful sleepy time! Quick, to the blog!

• Adam Lewis Schroeder continues his tour of a Penticton cemetery.
• NXEW interviews Timbre Timbre about being Timbre Timbre.
• Andre Alexis responds to Zach Wells about whatever it is everyone is arguing about. Something something critics something something newspapers something something death of literary culture…. (Scroll down to the comments.)

(Image from NapaneeGal’s Flickr stream.)

Adam Lewis Schroeder is guest editor at the Afterword blog this week, where he discusses outlines and the ways in which your characters push you around. Books would be so much easier to write if the characters would just do what you tell them to do….

I want to make some joke about laser cannons being next, but this is pretty cool.

• Why the Saskatchewan lit community is so strong: they huddle together to survive the cold, cold winters.
• Postmedia chief says he will build a leaner company. I hope this doesn’t mean lean in the way Canwest dieted, with buyouts and layoffs.
• Tony Clement should stick to saving drowning people, not trying to fix copyright.
• Extremely Bad Facebook Advice: Is there any other kind?
• Circles: Another beautiful shot from Grant MacDonald.

Strangely, this coincides with the news that Netflix is coming to Canada.

Most illogical.

Maybe the government should have conducted a poll before axing the long-form census.

The embattled head of Statistics Canada has resigned over the Harper government’s plan to scrap the mandatory long-form census, saying the replacement they propose for this will not work.

In a letter on the Statscan website, Munir Sheikh refused to say what advice he gave the Conservatives when they asked him to make these changes.

But he made it clear he cannot accept the scheme the Tories say is a perfectly adequate replacement for a compulsory long-form questionairre.

In a live video announcement, scientists said they were very excited about the discovery of new species three kilometres down and please pay no attention to the tentacles inserted into their tasty brain stems. Also, send more scientists.

Imagine the freedom!

For more than a hundred gamblers who logged on during the first few hours of British Columbia’s new online casino, the odds could not have been better. They were able to bet using other people’s money.

While it’s not clear how many took advantage of the rare opportunity to experience risk-free gambling, the bizarre security breach prompted BC Lottery Corporation to close down the heavily travelled site soon after it opened for business last Thursday.

Over at Maisonneuve, Salvatore Ciolfi describes his one-night stand with porn copywriting. Turns out it’s not a dream job after all!

Randal was a porn copywriter who loved what he did, which involved creating text to accompany online photos and videos. DJ was his boss. Working fast and with the sort of joy reserved for children at ice cream stands, Randal had already written, in the short time I’d been there, blurbs that included the terms “cream pie,” “meat pole” and “jizzicle.” “I like to think of my work as a cum shot in the eye,” Randal said. “It’s exciting, but a bit painful if you really look at it.”

The Province’s Dan Murphy strikes again. (Interactive graphic with audio.)

I’m working days this week for the first time in… decades? It’s a truly alien experience. Today I rode my bike to the West Coast Express at 7 in the morning. Did you know other people are awake at that time? Me neither!

• Michael Geist’s digital economy strategy
• Fair at the Forks — Another great shot from Winnipeg Love and Hate
• “I enjoyed your comment that you’ve turned into a semi-permeable artistic membrane” — Dani Couture and Natalie Zina Walschots in conversation
• “The smoking pile of rubble where André Alexis used to be” — Maclean’s weighs in on, well, you know.
• Alana Wilcox on the role(s) of an editor

I’ve started the new book, so I haven’t had time to go through all my feeds what with actually being productive and all. But here are a few odds and ends you may find interesting.

• Reviewing with Andre: Zach Wells responds to Andre Alexis and all that hullabaloo about the state of Canadian literary criticism. Well, at least it got people talking.
• The Star’s Map of the Week folds: Aww, I really liked this blog. Good luck with your new project!
• Shedding Some Ink on Kathleen Winter: Salty Ink interviews Kathleen Winter
• Evan Munday and Zoe Whittall in conversation
• Why the HST is screwing you out of good wine in restaurants

Don McKellar, on the death of his wife, actress Tracy Wright. This is simultaneously sad and beautiful. Peace, all. (Via Bookninja)

How else to explain this postage stamp?

The Post reports a woman has filed a human-rights complaint after an Ottawa wine bar refused her group entry because it included a three-month-old baby. I’m torn by this. As a parent, I find it ridiculous that you could be denied service anywhere because of a baby. But as a parent, I also love the idea of having a place to go where babies aren’t allowed….

The Globe reports the government has only collected one fine from a violator — for $250. With enforcement like that, what’s to stop companies from using the list to find new people to harass? Oh, wait, they already are.

That revelation is included in information supplied to Percy Downe, a Liberal Senator for Prince Edward Island who made inquiries about the list after getting complaints from people back home.

“I was contacted by two separate seniors quite a while ago in Prince Edward Island who inquired about the do-not-call list and how to get on it,” Mr. Downe explained Wednesday in a telephone interview. So he provided information to one of them and actually did the work to get the other listed – something he now regrets.

“Three months later she contacted me back and said, ‘I am getting more calls than before.’

The Star has more, with commentary from Michael Geist.

Dead Frog Pepper Lime Lager, if you must know.

• Polaris Music Prize shortlist announced. Those bloggers not pissed are posting told-you-sos.
• Sheila Heti and Nathaniel G. Moore in conversation. Why? Why not?
• We can all agree that literary criticism in Canada is struggling, yes? Steven W. Beattie on revivifying CanLit criticism.
• A whole bunch of Douglas Coupland Roots videos. Here’s one at random:

“I love you as much as I hate other races, religions and sexual orientations”

(Jon Lajoie, y’all)