With NoLo, No FOMO 

These gents were not interested in alcohol free anything other than free alcohol.

It's been so long since I've had a full-alcohol beer (anything more than 0.5%) that I don't think my opinion on the topic can be trusted. In my journey of non or low-alcohol beverages I’ve made some discoveries and I’ve found some good substitutions. For instance, Corona’s “Sunbrew” is very similar to Corona. “Like making love in a canoe, it’s ****ing close to water”, as it’s been said, but I guess any of the light lagers can be similar to their full alcohol versions due to their watery disposition. Peroni 0.0% is similar, though the German weiss beer Erdinger and Kronenburg’s 0.5%, while a little sweet, are close to their full alcohol counterparts. We’ve even found some wines too; a Chilean 0.5% Sauvignon Blanc, Tarapacá, and a German Pinot Noir that is 0.5% are also surprisingly good. At the LCBO a cashier asked me what the no-alcohol wine from Loblaws was like and I said, “Church wine.” She didn’t know what I meant because I suppose she was a heathen of some sort. I meant it was overly sweet and dry which puts it closer to prune juice than wine. What is more interesting now is that even the most typical “pub” will have at least one non-alcoholic beer.
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War on Torpor 

One way to stay warm as generated by MidJourney.

With the weirdly up, down, wet, cool, not cold December we had, this blast of winter we're having right now feels particularly nasty. The thing is, it's not even that cold (here in Toronto at any rate), in relative terms. It's not Alberta-cold. It's not Saskatchewan-cold. It's not Ottawa or Montreal-cold. Yet it's still cold-cold.

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The Lime Green Pop of Chlorine 

The luxury of having an entire public pool to yourself.

I was somewhat astonished that the Cooper Koo Y, where I swim, was open every day during the holidays. My aspirational self noted this as if my actual self was going to get up off the couch during the torporific season between Christmas and New Year's and do something about it. Then I did surprise myself by going a few times. What I found was in Toronto many people don't do much during Christmas so they'd rather be at the Y working out, playing basketball, or volleyball. This meant the pool was even busier than usual. Except for one day. Friday, January 05. For whatever sociological reason I cannot fathom, Fridays seem less busy. On this particular Friday, the last Friday of the school break, the Y wasn't busy at all. In fact, before I finished my swim, the only other people in the pool had left and I had, not just a lane, but the entire pool to myself. It reminded me of swimming on Friday nights as a kid.

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Seen in November & December 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Harrison Ford contemplate their futures.

Mr Dressup
Amazon Prime

If you're Canadian you probably grew up thinking Mr. Dressup was the greatest Canadian. He was actually an American named Ernie Coombs and like his close friend, Mr. Rogers, he was just as thoughtful, imaginative and kind as the person you saw on your TV screen.

Derek S01-03
Netflix

I’m still not sure how I feel about Ricky Gervais playing a neurodiverse individual but on the whole, this is a genuinely heartfelt comedy tinged with a dangerous drop of sentimentality. I still don’t like the unnecessary tinkling piano transitions but no one’s perfect.



The cast of the movie, based on the TV series, based on the books, based on the radio play.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Hoopla

I loved this series as a radio play. I loved it as a television series. I especially loved it as a series of books. Now I love it as a whole maligned feature-length film.
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