Hot Takes

Just a few random thoughts on a Monday:

With Love, Meghan

Okay, I am always back and forth on the Sussexes, but I am down for this show of Meghan's.  I have always enjoyed a cooking show, and in the tradition of Martha Stewart, I just love watching people do pretty things and make yummy looking food.  I know that people are sort of "hate watching" this show and ripping Meghan in various online forums, but whatever. They can do what they want.  Maybe she is trying too hard to be perfect, but I really do think she loves this stuff and good for her.  I am inspired to make a few of the things from her show.  I've also figured out that I would love to be able to just go out to the garden with all of the time in the world to pick up different things and then cook with them.  This is similar to what Stanley Tucci does in the kitchen.  I never feel like I really have enough time to do it myself, so it is lovely to watch someone else do it. 

Canada's Federal Election

Get ready Canada, we are finally going into our next Federal Election, choosing the party who will guide us through these turbulent times.  You know I have always been a supporter of Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, even during the last few months when his popularity was waning.  I am therefore strongly in favour of the Liberals this time around with the new leader Mark Carney.  I acknowledge that people have different views but I really do have some challenges with the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, chief among them why he won't get security clearance so he can be properly briefed on the foreign interference and possible involvement of his own Members of Parliament.  If a Conservative candidate shows up at my door, that is the question I will be asking them. 

Timothee Chalamet

I admit I wasn't a real Timmy fan, but I'm all in now.  We just watched A Complete Unknown on the weekend and he was amazing! He deserved all of the accolades for that performance. By the second half of the movie I had to remind myself I was watching an actor.  Not to mention Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, a fabulous singer! Now we have some Bob Dylan on our playlists.  I always loved Hurricane and I'm happy to revisit it now.

The Anxious Generation 

Some of you have read the book noted above by Jonathan Haidt. I have not read the book but I heard him on Dax Shepherd's podcast the other day.  I could understand what he was saying about the video games and social media problems with our kids (and probably ourselves too) and the consequences of the dopamine hits that come along with that.  I can take some of that advice and encourage our kids to spend less time on video games and spend more time on things that challenge them in real ways.  I sort of relate it to drinking orange juice or eating an orange.  If you just drink the orange juice, your body is hit with all of that sugar.  But if you eat the whole orange, the sugar is there, but is accompanied by fibre so your body breaks it down more slowly and gets more out of it. Doing things that require a bit more work to get the dopamine hit is like adding the "fibre" to the fun, the end the effect is longer lasting and more effective.  That all being said, I never really like these non-fiction books based on one topic, the author then tends to attribute everything to one hypothesis, and I live in a world of grey where there is no one answer to everything.  So I'll take the overarching message, but I don't think I'll be reading the book. 

Happy Monday!