I have to admit I lost interest once they started playing stuff off of the new album.
We made an event of it and had friends over for dinner and mass quantities of beer. I’m glad they finished with Gift Shop, it’s probably my favourite song of theirs. I also find it kind of innately Canadian that a song about feeling like an incredibly small part of the Universe used the Grand Canyon in the video. It captures the essence of being there perfectly, though.
I’ve been following the Colten Bouchie case and I find the whole devolution and absolute vitriol of social media really interesting. I love how people are so ready to set due process aside and automatically find Gerald Stanley guilty. Good thing there isn’t a handy tree nearby to string him up on, I guess…
The really sad thing is that this is becoming the norm (wrt social media being judge and jury) and not the exception.
1500 American boat people illegally sought refuge in Canada before Trump can build his wall. http://a.msn.com/r/2/BBvUSyJ?a=1&m=EN-CA
There has definitely been a lot of jumping to conclusions on both sides. It certainly isn’t being helped by the cryptic stories that I’ve been reading on various news sites.
As a general rule, I think killing someone is a poor way of resolving a dispute, but I’ll withhold my judgement until more information comes out.
I’d have to agree with you on that score; it’s like the old saying about divorce, what she says, what he says, and the truth.
Muffin, I wonder if they would like to claim refugee status?! 
The American refugees were described as being in ‘high spirits’. Nice that the coast guard and police had a sense of humour about the situation…
Today’s cartoon from the Toronto Star - Four Images You’ll Only Get if You’re Canadian. Kinda says it all…
An interesting (well, to me, but I’m inflicting it on everyone here 
) bit of news: the African Episcopal Church, in Oro-Medonte township, Ontario, has been restored and reopened, to much fanfare.
This structure is of historical interest: it’s the last remnant of the Black population in Oro Township, who were originally composed primarily of escaped slaves & other Blacks who helped the Brits fight in the War of 1812 and were granted land here, with their families (to act as a bulwark against the Americans! The idea was that, being Black, they would fight all the harder should the Americans attempt to invade again, for fear of being enslaved).
The Church is, allegedly, one of the oldest African wooden churches still standing in North America. Sadly, the community that supported the Church died out, the last descendent of the original Black settlers left in the 1940s. The reason: the area isn’t actually that good for farmland, and it was remote from anywhere.
Why I care about it: it was a fixture in my childhood. Growing up, the route my dad took to get to his Simcoe County cottage was past this church, which is in the middle of nowhere (at least, from a Toronto perspective ); we would sometimes stop to investigate it as it had a historic marker, but I don’t think I ever saw a single other person stop to look at it. When I last saw it, it looked on its last legs as a building, so it is a good thing they have restored it.
It is admittedly very odd to see pics of the place thronged with dignitaries and folks from all over. I’m used to thinking of it as ‘that abandoned old church’ gently moldering on a country road crossroads.
Want to explain for us Murricans?
Top left: Iconic childrens’ show: The Friendly Giant. (1953 - 1985)
Top right: Paul Henderson scoring the winning goal in 1972 to defeat the USSR Red Army team in the first summit series between our countries.
Bottom left: Terry Fox. I sincerely hope everyone knows of Terry! Please tell me that’s not an unknown. (RIP 1981)
Bottom right: Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip (huge Canadian band) giving, presumably, his last live performance on August 20, 2016 after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer months earlier.
Very iconic Canadian images.
Well, the first three are. Given the Hip’s last tour, the fourth is likely imminent. 
I only got the first three. I seem to have missed out on the entire Hip phenom. Odd, since I was in Kingston when they were starting up.
Another Michael de Adder Tragically Hip comic.
This clip, taken from their last Toronto performance on this tour, might help to explain the image of Gord. I don’t know why, particularly, “Grace, Too” gets him so much, but - the raw, unsorted emotions at the end of 3+ hours of singing bring tears to his eyes. I see pain, despair, triumph, exultation, sorrow, farewell…
But most of all, I see Death being told to fuck right off by a great and determined artist.
Edit: Gods, it’s been four days since the final concert of the tour, and I still can’t watch that without sobbing.
They made the New Yorker: Watching Canada’s Biggest Rock Band Say a Dramatic Goodbye.
Thanks, Leaffan.
Nice way to shit on our thread.
ETA: And for Elendil’s Heir’s benefit a riot broke out in Vancouver in 2011 after the Canucks lost to the Bruins in game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Huh? And whatcha mean “our thread”? I’m a good old Ontario boy.
Living in the US with a misguided superiority complex.