OUT FOR A WINTER STROLL, THE DEATH KNELL FOR OLD COMPUTERS, AND THINGS YOU SEE ON LIVE TV
Vol. 1, No. 48
In this edition, your discerning correspondent relates news from the Calgary Zoo on how to keep your king penguins fit, laments the best-before date for the Commodore 64, points out the time when Mary Morgan’s little dachshund does something unexpected on live TV, and explains the expectations of those who are forced to listen to cellphone conversations.
This week: A 6-minute read
THE ZOO IS LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP
If you get to feeling a tad sorry for the residents of Canada’s zoological parks in wintertime, think again. At the Calgary Zoo in, er, Calgary, the king penguins in residence go for a daily and oftentimes icy stroll.
The walk is optional, of course. After all, this is a zoo, not a Grade 9 Phys Ed class. Still, the Antarctic birds are up for it as the daily strolls mimic their natural behaviour. The cold temps and the breezy days ensure their health, protecting them from fungal infections that are otherwise the bane of their existence. Also, the younger birds get to burn off some energy, while the older ones like the exercise. Plus, you know, fresh air.
Next up, something similar for the zoo’s collection of dinosaurs. So far, they’re mum on the subject.
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IT’S HOW MUCH YOU GET
In last Sunday’s newsletter, we wrote about how young people—those under, say, 30, but you could probably make the argument for anyone under 35—don’t seem to have much experience with or exposure to older movies.
Our youngest daughter Carson, who as we speak is, um, 34, had some thoughts on that.
“Besides the existence of video games, I suspect another reason younger people haven’t seen older movies is that they’re just not available,” she writes. “Streaming services, by and large, don’t carry them. Try finding Mister Roberts on Netflix sometime. You can’t. Most people my age don’t have cable, and DVDs are quickly becoming a niche market.”
She goes on to note the problem of lack of availability extends beyond old movies. It seems the aforementioned video games of a certain vintage are also hard to come by.
“It turns out nearly every video game made before 2010 can’t be legally purchased anymore,” Carson writes. When you consider that for centuries, going back to the invention of the printing press I suppose, there has been a concerted effort by posterity-minded archivists to preserve all sorts of books, newspapers and magazines for future generations, this is kind of alarming. Yet, according to the news site gamedeveloper.com, 87 per cent of classic video games released before 2010 have not been preserved in any real way. The Video Game History Foundation says these older titles are critically endangered.
Why? A game console’s ecosystem is a major factor. The Commodore 64, for example, is considered abandoned because of its low sales and lack of available games. Outdated copyright laws also make it problematic. “Though libraries and archives have permission to digitally preserve video games, they’re limited in what they can do with games compared to other media such as books or movies.”
As a result, writes Carson, “large parts of our world’s cultural history are dropping into oblivion, simply because it’s not profitable to keep them around.”
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CONSIDER THE SOURCE
“In Los Angeles, people drive everywhere. If you are out walking in L.A., people will look at you funny—and these are people who put sunglasses on their dogs.”
Again, our daughter Carson
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LOTS OF ‘DEAR TERRY’ LETTERS
Re ‘The State of Hockey, and We Don’t Mean Minnesota,’ June 22. Terry, I have a greater concern for the NHL. I hear repeatedly “Florida is a team built for the playoffs.” I believe that to be true. NHL management changes the game dramatically in the playoffs because, even though the viewing numbers are always horrible in many marginal U.S. markets, during the playoffs, they are better than in the regular season. Playoff hockey should disgust real hockey fans. It’s not exciting. It is violent beyond the rules of the game. Sam Bennett’s involvement in this year’s playoffs should have ended with a suspension for his hit to Anthony Stolarz’s head, sending him vomiting to the bench. That is just one incident among many that occurred in the playoffs this year. Competitive juices aren’t driving this behaviour. Selling the game to people who don’t care in the U.S. is the NHL’s goal. Walter O’Rourke, Fergus, Ontario
Re ‘Godspeed, Brian,’ and ‘Always Time in Lloyd,’ June 15. Hey, Terry. Man, I love the song Sloop John B. Songs with great harmonies always catch my ear, having sung in the Vesna choir in Saskatoon and having a dad who sang in church and occasionally with inappropriate songs at home, much to my mom’s annoyance. Lloydminster also reminds me of dad as we once exchanged vehicles on the boundary there. He drove from Canora and I drove from Grande Prairie and we made the swap mid-Lloyd. Tom Pura, Grande Prairie, Alberta
Re ‘Dude, Where’s My Car, Part II,’ June 22. Hi Terry. I agree the kids these days don’t seem to have the same channels when it comes to watching the old great movies. Bill Kennedy, however, was on WKBD in Detroit (channel 50). Channel 9 is the CBC channel in Windsor. Claudio D’Andrea, Windsor, Ontario
Ed. Note: Through the 1950s and '60s, Bill Kennedy was indeed on Channel 9 when it was CKLW-TV and owned by RKO. He moved to WKBD in 1969 as CKLW was sold—at the insistence of the CRTC—to a consortium of CBC and Baton, the company that owned the CTV station in Toronto. So Bill was at CKLW for 13 years before moving to WKBD for another 14 years. In the CKLW years, Kennedy’s Sunday show was followed by one hosted by Mary Morgan. She always sat in a splendid chair with her little dachshund, Liebchen, in her lap. The dog once licked off one of her false eyelashes and ate it on the air. I am not making this up.
Terry, my choice for best old movie is How Green Was My Valley. Adèle Fontaine, Edmonton, Alberta
If you want to drop me a note (and risk me publishing it here), just reply to this email or, if you prefer send it to mysundayreader@gmail.com.
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SILLY IS AS SILLY DOES
If you’re in the army, don’t ask a general what’s new. For the truly creative choices, check with the privates.
In the U.S. Army, soldiers discovered a tool for spotting trip wires: Silly String. Sprayed across a room, the strands cling to the invisible wires, revealing the hidden dangers.
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GREAT EXPECTATIONS
“If we are going to be forced to overhear your loud cellphone conversations, at least have the decency to live an interesting life.”
From an email written by my old pal Allan Lynch of New Minas, Nova Scotia, after a ride on Toronto’s subway system
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THIS WEEK IN THE BOOK CLUB
This week in Episode 12, titled ‘My family calls me David,’ Stanley finds himself back in a military hospital, this one in Calais, where he is told his leg is a brutish mess and he is being shipped back to England. It’s while he is waiting to board the hospital ship that he meets someone totally unexpected. He is first shipped to a convalescent home in Manchester, then to another in Basingstoke, near Southampton. There, Stanley hears the news he never expected to hear: he is going home. But first, he has to go north again, to another military hospital in Kirkdale, near Liverpool, and from there, the ship home. He tells the doctor he doesn’t want to see Hettie until he’s better. The doctor isn’t so sure that’s a realistic expectation.
A subscription to our Book Club is incredibly inexpensive, just $5 a month. Sign up anytime and catch up on what you’ve missed. Any proceeds will help finance my future projects.
That’s all for now. Ta till next Sunday. / T.
Please note: Artificial intelligence was not used in the preparation or writing of any part of this newsletter.