Archive for August, 2010
Been Here Awhile…Seven Years in Fact
Celebrated seven years living in China (all in Shanghai) on Saturday. There are good days and bad days but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
J.
P.S. Listening to The Mountain Goats right now at my desk. Their music just fits where I am in my life right now. Check them out.
Thoughts on Peter Gzowski
I’ve never really thought much about Peter Gzowski. I’m a bit too young for the voice of Canadian morning radio for 30 years. I only knew him as the author of numerous copies of The Morning Side Paper which sat on my uncle’s shelf in London. And those were books I thought “too adult” (IE boring) to read – and I read everything even as a kid.
The only time I ever remember listening to him was on a car trip with my Dad up to Ottawa when I was 17 and going to tour the university where I would eventually do my undergrad degree. I don’t really remember having an opinion on him at all. I just remember turning on the radio and wanting to listen to him because I thought that’s what journalists did and I wanted to be a journalist.
After reading Robert Fulford’s review of a new Gzowksi biography I realize that I missed out on a great personality and like that two-volume biography of Pierre Elliot Trudeau that sits in my box of books unread — somebody I’m going to have to learn about through the printed page.
And that’s sad. I can’t really blame myself for not knowing these things at the time. I was 18 when Gzowski retired from Morning Side and I’ve become a devoted follower of its unfortunate Sunday morning-only successor, The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright, but I still feel a lot like I should have been aware that there was a great voice just a little bit farther up the dial and maybe I should have turned away from the alternative rock station for a few hours each day to enjoy it.
I’ve taken the Trudeau book out of the box now and placed it in my pile as my next book to read. I may have to appreciate Trudeau through the page but at least I can. I’ll be sure to grab the bio of Gzowski when I’m back home in October too.
J.
A Friday Night on Madison Avenue
I just watched the fourth episode of the fourth season of Mad Men. That show keeps getting better episode by episode. It left the idea of representing the cool early 1960s a long time ago and it’s now become a stronger character drama.
A dark character drama. There is a sense of gloom over everything in that show. Even the happiest moments you can tell the characters are just wanting and desiring something more – I don’t know if that’s some intentionally irony that the writers added into the show or if it’s supposedly a long-term effect of working in advertising (I left the industry after a three-year stint) but it creates a great show.
Looking forward to the next episode.
J.
Summer Heat
It’s been too long since I posted something here. A lot has been going and that has meant I’ve been too busy to write. However, too much stress has resulted and I realize that I need this space just to jot things down. I don’t think it’s ever going to be that formal a space to write anything. It’s just going to be as the title says a personal journal. So here it goes.
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Tonight need to go out for a big corporate event, but with the heat I’m just feeling absolutely drained. Would rather just go home and spend the afternoon napping. This summer has been brutal and draining. That’s made it hard to enjoy anything outside.
Went with Betty to the Expo a couple of weeks ago for a friend’s birthday party. We had a great time but it was really hard not to sweat to death. Really makes me hope the fall comes soon.
J.
