The Bob Helpline (and Handy Hints) Rides Again

In sorting through over 6 years worth of my DBAWIS columns in preparation of a book featuring some of my best work here and supplemented by some new stories written especially for what I hope will be Volume number one of a series, I came across this particular example of the occasional silly post I contribute to this circus.

These articles basically write themselves and I have very little control over the why and what for of them. Usually, I sit down to write a new column with an idea in mind and work from there, but once in a while (after staring at a blank screen for several minutes) something totally unrelated will pop into my head and I start to type.

JAIMIE VERNON – ALL THINGS MUST PASS

I was hoping to go a full week without reporting another celebrity death. But we’ve had half-a-dozen since the passing of The Eagles’ Glenn Frey including actor Abe Vigoda (‘Barney Miller’, ‘The Godfather’) whose website has finally been changed to no longer read the whimsical “still alive” message.

Roxanne Tellier: Nothing But the Tooth

Most of us take our clever bodies for granted, assuming that all our bits and pieces will do as they are told. The wonders of how all of our actions and bodily functions come together are something we don’t really think about.

Until something goes wrong.

JAIMIE VERNON – POP GOES THE WORLD

For the last 15 to 20 years the idea of pop music – like the good old guitar/piano driven stuff we grew up with on the CHUM Top 30 and Billboard Top40 charts – has been Verboten and buried like a forgotten dog bone in the backyard. Like some nerdist guilty pleasure there’s been a counter movement which has dubbed itself the keepers of Power Pop though its supporters can never agree on the definition of the term.

Roxanne Tellier It Was What It Was – But More

Yeah, yeah, it’s been a week since the Saturday Night Live (SNL) special, and Bob’s given his views on the pros and cons. But I’m still thinking about what the show meant to me, in its heyday, and occasionally, since.

Segarini: The Bob Helpline (and Handy Hints) Revisited

In sorting through over 3 years worth of my DBAWIS columns in preparation of a book featuring some of my best work here and supplemented by some new stories written especially for what I hope will be Volume number one of a series, I came across this particular example of the occasional silly post I contribute to this circus.

JAIMIE VERNON – ADVENTURES IN NEW MUSIC

I spent a bit of of time in downtown Toronto this week having avoided going anywhere near it since 2012 because, well, CONSTRUCTION. The annual FanExpo extravaganza began Thursday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and I took my son down on transit – not to see the actors and actresses hawking their photos and autographs (which we have enjoyed in years past), but to check out the new offerings in the video gaming world.

Roxanne Tellier: Love Stinks

February is the perfect month in which to have a Valentine’s Day, isn’t it? The dark days of winter mirror the endless darkness of your so called life and press on your last nerve, and the cold sneaks through the windows and under the doors like icy fingers, seeking out your most tender bits. What better time to join in a mass celebration of tawdry lingerie and heart shaped chocolates? Snuggle up to your honey, maybe even take off the socks that you’ve been wearing to bed for two months, and get your cuddles on.

Or at least, that’s what we’re told to expect.

Segarini: The Bob Helpline (and Handy Hints)

There are so many troubling aspects to today’s herp-a-derp world. Things change every 38 seconds. ‘What to do’ becomes a dizzying maelstrom of decisions and choices, and trying to figure out if a hipster is being forthcoming or ironic is near impossible. We live not in the Atomic, Industrial, or Teen age, we are the occupants of the Age of Overwhelming Amounts of Information, Most of Which is Bullshit.

Nadia Elkharadly: Valentine’s Day – Post Grammy Edition

How ironic that Saint Valentine’s Day should fall on a Tuesday this year, on the very day that my Don’t Believe a Word I Say column is put out there for all the world to see.  I’ve never been a Vday kinda girl.  Maybe it’s because I’ve never been very romantic.  Maybe it’s because the colour red looks terrible on me.  Or maybe because my father’s birthday falls on February 14^th, so the idea of people being schmoopy and amorous on the day my dad was born is just kind of….icky.  Whatever the reason, I’ve never been a fan.