This is one of the bigger and more diverse used booksales in Ottawa ( Read more... )

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in A College Town [2015] is journalist Jon Krakauer's account of how lack of training in the local police force, lack of interest and an unwillingness to believe rape victims in the prosecutor's office, and a culture of adoration for the college football team, combined to create an environment where it was all ( Read more... )

I read this (from the library, thankfully) under the impression that it was new and interesting YA fantasy.

Finished it late tonight, in time to get it back to the library. I was glad to get rid of it. I would also suggest it's more suited to adults than YA (it's a lot less innocent than The Hunger GamesOn the good side: substantial ethnic ( Read more... )

Went to see the new documentary Going Clear: Scientology And The Prison Of Belief at the ByTowne this afternoon. It's on for two more days (Monday and Tuesday evenings), and is really worth seeing. It's one of the best POV-docs I've seen in the last year, and probably among the Top 10 ever for me ( Read more... )

The Guardian reports the aspirational wishes of producers of a remake of Ben Hur to get Tom Hiddleston to play the leadI note that nothing is confirmed, and I hope that Hiddleston has the good sense to keep it that way ( Read more... )

BOOKS FOR BLOOMS USED BOOK SALE
Saturday/Sunday, June 14 & 15, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thousands of books available.

Location: Building 72, Arboretum, Central EXperimental Farm. Take the east exit off the Prince of Wales roundabout. Admission and parking free

For information call (613)230-3276 or e-mail info@friendsofthefarm.ca

For those who are using Ottawa's invidious Presto transit payment card:

I saw a tweet recently from someone who had found a Presto card on the ground in the Glebe and was asking if anyone had lost one (good for him!)

Which made me think that another one of the problems with this card is that, unlike monthly passes, there's nowhere to write down ( Read more... )

I liked this, the second installment in the Star Trek film reboot, better than the first. On the other hand, I borrowed it on DVD from the library, showing exactly how urgently I needed to see it. On the other hand, I had been checking the new DVD bins for it for a while...

What I liked about it:

• Benedict Cumberbatch, whom I'm sure had an ( Read more... )

Doctor Who: The Vault. Treasures from the First 50 Years
by Marcus Hearn
( Read more... )

I recently talked to a 20-something Quebecois who was unhappy about current politicians from his province. He talked about the revelations of the Charbonneau commission on widespread fraud and bribery involved in public construction contracts; he pointed out how the current Quebec Premier Pauline Marois espoused concern about greenhouse gases in ( Read more... )