The Unknown Studio

This is the third in a short series of posts about my family’s history, living in Canada as landed immigrants in the 1950s and 60s. You can read the second tale here, and the third one here. This particular series discusses my mother’s experiences living and working on a southern Alberta farm as a child. This will be the final post of this brief series.
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Popularity: 10% [?]

This is the third in a short series of posts about my family’s history, living in Canada as landed immigrants in the 1950s and 60s. You can read the second tale here. This particular series discusses my mother’s experiences living and working on a southern Alberta farm as a child.

I wish I could say that my Mum and René left Georges be. But if they had, I wouldn’t have such tragic and funny stories to tell. So we plod on, and discuss some of Georges’ evening habits… and his fears (aside from the twin spawn of my grandparents).

When I last spoke with Mum and René, they told me and my brothers that Georges had a bizarre aversion to gophers. He didn’t dislike them as some people do magpies or mice. He was afraid of them. Evil vicious little things, he thought.

Naturally, the twins wanted to leverage this little-known fact. And since the last story I told you dealt with Georges’ morning routine, I’ll tell you a little bit about his evening routine. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 4% [?]

Earlier this afternoon, a lad named Antony Ta sent me a direct message asking me to provide some content for a new Oilers blog he was launching. Knowing as little as I do about the nitty-gritty of hockey (particularly in terms of statistics and the like) I naturally agreed. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 2% [?]

This is the second in a short series of posts about my family’s history, living in Canada as landed immigrants in the 1950s and 60s. This particular series discusses my mother’s experiences living and working on a farm as a child.

I guess life on the farm is extremely routine and regimented. It has to be. Mum lived on a dairy farm in southern Alberta, near Lethbridge, for most of her childhood. I remember hearing stories about how awful the children in her school were to her and her twin brother René. You don’t speak the language, you’re different, and so you’re the object of extreme prejudice by the other — more Canadian, more normal — children. I count myself lucky I never had to experience anything like that. But whatever happened at school, Mum was lucky enough to have René, a built-in best friend. I can’t imagine what it’s like having a twin sibling… Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 4% [?]

I spent the past weekend in Calgary with my little brother and sister-in-law. We decided to spend a few days down visiting my aunt and uncle — themselves visiting from Montreal and staying with my parents, a very rare thing. My aunt and uncle tend to keep to Lower Canada, seeing Alberta (sometimes rightly) as a little too redneck for their tastes (my interpretation, not their own admission). To put it into context, the last time my uncle visited Alberta — at his other sister’s 50th wedding anniversary — his nephews got into a fist-fight. With each other. High-larious, but doesn’t really make you want to come back for more. I so often look on my extended family with incredulity and bemusement, though I do love them all dearly — foibles, faults and all (because, hey, I’m certainly not bereft of those things my own self). Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 5% [?]

In this week’s episode, Adam and Scott discuss which medium — videogames or movies — make for greater storytelling engines.

In order to tackle this weighty issue, we summoned local experts Anita Kuny and Ramin Ostad. From inside the belly of a whale, we argued, fought, fussed, and consumed various quantities of very poor Canadian beer (although this particular beer happens to be Adam’s favourite). Did we arrive at any stunning conclusions?

You’ll have to listen to find out.

Popularity: 5% [?]