I’ve long wanted to plant a vegetable garden and now that we’ve finally got ourselves a piece of land it’s time.

Last year, since we didn’t move in until mid-May—and even then took a while to get ourselves together—I didn’t have the chance to plant much. We bought some tomato and pepper plants and threw them in a little patch of dirt in the backyard but it didn’t yield much anything to speak of. But this year I’m prepared.

My brother-in-law purchased The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible for me for Christmas and while I was a bit remiss with buying my seeds sooner things are now moving along swiftly.

We’ve got a patch of land, behind our back fence, that used to be an old delivery lane-way for the coal trucks. I’ve spoken to the City and while we don’t own the land, gardening on it is fine. And perfect for a vegetable garden: Nice and wide and long and fenced off so that Penny can’t get into it and snoop around.

View from the Fenced Backyard

View of the Lane-way

It’s a bit difficult to see from the photograph but it’s about 2m, wide enough to accommodate 2 wide, raised bed gardens and a walkway, all running the entire length of the backyard without disturbing the neighbours too much. This year, I think we’ll go with only one row to begin because I don’t want to get in over my head but eventually this whole lane-way could accommodate a pretty sizable garden.

Once the weather warms up and the ground thaws it’ll be time to start digging things up. Just in time for the City of Cambridge’s annual compost giveaway!

In a nutshell, here’s why the whole Robocall Scandal is something to be seriously concerned about.

During the 2006 election, the Conservatives used a little bit of creative accounting that’s since come to be known as the “In and Out” scheme. Under this scheme, which Conservatives at the highest levels approved, money was funneled into local ridings and then withdrawn to be used for federally-disseminated campaign material. Through this perceived loophole in Canadian electoral law, the Conservatives were able to spend well beyond the limits that traditionally apply to federal campaigning. The Tories could use money that was, on the books, being spent locally, to actually fund, say, federally-run commercials.

This scheme was discovered, deemed illegal, and the Conservatives were made to pay a fine and apologize. Which they did.

But now they have a history of gaming the system.

So when the National Post—not a newspaper that’s particularly unfriendly to the Harper government—comes out with a scandal that traces itself right back to the doorstep of 24 Sussex Drive it’s something to give Canadians, perhaps, at least a slight cause for concern.

The idea of a robot making a telephone call is, to me, pretty hilarious but unfortunately this isn’t a laughing matter. The fact that Stephen Harper himself has used the company behind the robocalls for his own election campaigns is troublesome. The fact that the Tories have, in the past, broken electoral rules makes all of this a bit more than a weekend news story. There is a precedent for Conservatives behaving badly during election campaigns. There is a history to this and because of that, robots aside, this is serious business.

Our Prime Minister Stephen Harper  has been on a trade mission in China this past week. His first since 2009 when he was chided for not visiting sooner. This trip, from all accounts, including the Prime Minister himself on CBC’s The House, has been successful. But is it successful for the wrong reasons? Would it have been a success if, say, the Prime Minister brought up some of the pressing issues facing that country and, more importantly, its citizens?

For a country that supposedly prides itself of its Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its generous immigration and refugee policy isn’t it our job—even if no one else will step up—to ask the tough questions of foreign powers? Read the rest of this article »

Paranormal Activity 3 is the third installation in a film franchise that up to now I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve previously reviewed Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2 on pretty positive notes. Like The Blair Witch Project, which scared the crap out of my friends and I in the 90′s, the Paranormal Activity series has been pretty pioneering in its creation of thrills and chills.

The third installation, however, makes it clear that the premise has worn itself absolutely thin.

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This year marks the 200th birthday of British novelist Charles Dickens and even though he’s been dead since 1870 that isn’t stopping the BBC from heartily marking the occasion. And, honestly, that’s OK with me.

The celebrations kicked off after Christmas, just before the dawn of the new year, with a three-part adaptation of one of Dickens’ most celebrated titles Great Expectations.

Now, for those new to the blog, my wife and I love a good mini-series based on a British novel. Dickens’ Little Dorrit, which I reviewed in a roundabout way last year, is simply one of the best mini-series you’ll find. Considering we both love Great Expectations, the novel, we had high hopes. The cast looked promising too with Gillian Anderson, a great actress in her own right, and David Suchet who all fans of British detective dramas will recognize instantly.

Unfortunately, this particular adaptation, has been aptly coined by my wife as “Great Expectations for Dummies.”

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Or, “How to Rebuild a Political Party, in as Few Words as Possible.”

As the rhetoric leading up to this weekend’s Liberal convention in Ottawa begins in earnest I must—I simply must—say my piece.

I am a card-carrying member of the Liberal Party of Canada. I joined… gee I don’t know, back when what’s his name with the squeaky voice beat out Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae for the party leadership. I joined because I was interested in having a say in who would replace Jean Chretien or Paul Martin or however you want to look at it. At any rate, I’ve stuck it out for exactly that reason: because I want to have a say in the party going forward but as the outlook turns grimmer every year I’m beginning to wonder if I can get my money back.

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When the Sherlock series first debuted a couple of years ago on the BBC Maria and I almost missed it. Surprising because we’re both huge fans of both Sherlock Holmes and British detective dramas in general. This time around, for the second series of Sherlock, we were on the ball. And waiting.

The first 90-minute installment in the three-episode second series run is called ‘A Scandal in Belgravia’ and like the mysteries from the last season it’s a take off on a familiar Sherlock story with a whole bunch of twists and turns.

Sherlock and Watson find themselves confronted with a number of mysteries from an outdoorsman killed by a backfiring car to a dead man in a trunk to a dominatrix trying to bring down the British monarchy. It’s a bit of an everything goes but, of course, like any good Sherlock story it all works itself out in the end and ties itself together in a neat little package.

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