Is Rob Ford A Clinically Diagnosable Psychopath?

Here's a fun little exercise for a Monday.

We've been laying off the Rob Ford story/trainwreck/crap-o-rama for the last little while because we (by which I really mean I) were starting to seem kind of obsessed with the whole matter.  It started to feel a little unseemly.

Banned From Gawker Update: John Cook Finally Responds To Me (Sort Of)

So, John Cook, editor of Gawker  and the guy who messed up the whole Rob Ford crack tape thing pretty badly, put up a long post yesterday about why people get blocked from Gawker.

While my frequent requests for an answer to that very question were not directly addressed, I've decided to take full credit for being the impetus behind him posting that.  The 3000 and counting pageviews of my original Banned From Gawker post and the frequent links it's received both on other Gawker Media sites and other various places on the internet can attest to that.  He also takes a couple shots in the post ("Are you mad about our Rob Ford coverage?" for example) that seem pretty specifically geared toward my repeated haranguing.

Anyway what his whole piece boils down to is If We Think Your Post Is Dumb We'll Block You Because We Can Do Whatever We Want On Our Site.  Which is true.  I still invite anyone to take a look at the original piece I wrote and then to tell me if you think what I said falls within the criteria he listed for why they block people.

Calmly Addressing CreepShots (or, Alex Tries Empathy)

We can all agree the internet is pretty great.  It might be the most democratic invention in history, and it sure is swell for sharing media, too.  Of course, sometimes that media comes in the form of a bunch of photos taken of unsuspecting women in public places by a crop of Darwinian rejects trying to capture their "raw sexiness" because they apparently have a "right to it".

Sue-Ann Levy Actually Wrote Something Critical About The May- Oh Wait, Wrong Mayor...

Crack.  Coverups.  Denials.  Homophobia.  Misogyny.  Racism.  Drug Dealing.  Lies.  Harassment (both verbal and sexual).  Shirking Of Responsibilities To Coach Football.  Campaign Finance Law Violations.  Conflict Of Interest Law Violations.

These are all things the current mayor of Toronto is or has been either directly or tangentially involved with.  Some of it is stuff he's up to his ears in at this very moment.

So what does our intrepid Toronto Sun City Hall Columnist Sue-Ann Levy decide to write about?

David Miller.

Free Melky: MLB Is Sanctimonious And Stupid About PEDs

Steroids!  OoOoOoOoOoOo!  Scary!

The Blue Jays' Melky Cabrera, who's already been suspended once for using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), is on the block again.  As reported yesterday by ESPN.com and then like a million other people, he and about 19 other players are facing suspensions for connection with an alleged PED-supplying clinic.

People Are Wack, Part I Of Infinity

From the Facebook page of Gabrielle Neveu, Owner/Manager of Trap Door Boutique (2993 Dundas Street West):

Today's CUSTOMER of the WEEK: 

Man struts in and says: "HI, How's Sue doin'?" 

Me: "Sue? I don't know who you mean?" 

Man leaves without a word and comes back with a friend from his "BAND."
They have pizza slices from across the street and commence eating that is difficult to describe. 

Man (chewing): "You know, Sue who I used to date before she went mental and threw all my stuff including that dress from your shop I bought her all over Weston Road?" 

Me: Oh yes, um.....Sue .......I haven't seen her at all......ever 

Man (lip smacking pizza): Nevermind, what pants are you gonna dress me in?  Cuz I gotta look hot on stage! (elbows buddy also chewing pizza loudly) "She'll dress you up right man, she'll make sure pants fit right (winks), and she makes shirts too." 

Buddy: (munch munch) "Right on!" 

Man: "Remember that shirt you custom made me? Sue bought me that fucking unbelievably cool shirt man....... it's on Weston Road too."

Me: "I could make another one if you want..." 

Man: (hands me empty pizza plate and wipes face with his own sleeve) "Yeah it's expensive in here, tell Sue I said HI!" 

Pizza Band exits.....I have the pizza plate in my hand and I don't know who the heck these people are but I do know why "Sue" went mental!!!!

Thoughts On Reciprocity As It Relates To Your Stupid Kickstarter Campaign

When I'm not writing at my day job or any one of a thousand other places to which I provide my signature brand of wit and candour, I'm writing for and performing in my two-piece alt-nerd-folk-rock-comedy duo Nerds With Guitars.  We're sort of a known quantity in the Toronto fandom scene, mostly because there aren't too many acts around here who do what we do, but it leads us to be asked to do some pretty cool things every so often.  For example, this past March we were invited to be guests at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, where we got to play on stage with some rather remarkable musical acts.  As part of the weekend I was asked to sit on a panel about nerd music (which is way more of a thing in the 'States than it is here), an honour for which I wasn't 100% prepared.  But thankfully I'm a talker so I managed to stumble through.

Dear NOW Magazine - You're Dead (And It's About Time)

I'm obviously not breaking any new ground by saying this, but print is dead.  Not kind of dead.  Not "well I still like the feel of paper in my hands once in a while but I do most of my news reading online" dead.  But totally, fully, one hundred per cent deceased.  Print is like the hooker in that asshole senator's room in Godfather Part II - not only dead, but without family or friends.  It will not be missed by anyone once it's actually out of sight.  Completely irrelevant as an entity.

Yesterday, NOW Magazine printed a letter to the editor I wrote (or didn't even really write, it was actually a comment on one of their stories that they turned into a letter to the editor).  This is what it said:

Rob Ford hasn’t denied that the incident in the alleged crack video ever happened (NOW, May 24). He only denied having seen the video, with a line tossed in about the video maybe not existing at all. Which might mean he’s already bought it – or feels safe enough assuming it won’t come out.
Andrew Ryan Fox