Category: Life

A Useful Ghost is a 2025 Thai tragicomedy by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke.

I went in expecting a comedy about how women are raised to please; what with the plot centering a wife’s ghost being trapped in a vacuum cleaner. I didn’t expect all that much from it.

I vastly underestimated where this film would go.

The film opens to a few laughs, but then explores themes of homophobic rejection, systems that pit people on the bottom against each other and the toll that it takes, corruption with a smile, and more yet. All the while mixing humour and heart in a way I hadn’t seen before.

The easy laughs of the beginning give way to a Greek tragedy, before closing to a few gags. So tonally it was a bit abrupt but it largely succeeded in its commentary.

I recommend this one.

I hate watched the Melania movie last night with my best friend. I thought it would be fun to roast together.

The film is widely understood as a vehicle to bribe the Trump family by billionaire Jeff Bezos. His payment of $28M to the criminal family paid off; the billionaire’s company subsequently received a $7B tax break. The project was helmed by disgraced director and sexual predator Brett Ratner.

(more…)

In 2012, a Bramfekta at Ottawa’s Bramasole Diner was $11.89:

In 2014, it was the same price:

In 2017, it was $13:

In 2019, it was $14:

In 2022, it was $16:

In 2023, it was $21:

Today, in 2026, it’s $22.50:

As a chart:

The price hike is comparable to general food inflation in Canada:

Media discourse has it that deepening polarization is core to current domestic discord.

In this piece, I’ll argue that “polarization” isn’t the right word for what’s occurring. That would imply a comparable split towards two extremes for what is in fact one-sided: mainstream conservatism adopting the extremist, self-destructive, and nihilistic rhetoric of its once fringes.

There is no comparable shift by mainstream liberal parties, contrary to the the claims of conservative podcasters. I would venture that such assertions fall into the “every accusation is a confession” line of political messaging.

(more…)