I’ve seen many of the sights you are supposed to see out here in the abyss. You know, the stuff the guide books tell you about. Some of it is spectacular, but a lot was spoiled long before I saw it. That’s the thing about tourism — the simple act…

The suburb of North Sydney bustles with people on a workday. While not as busy as downtown Sydney on the other side of the Harbour Bridge, you don’t want to be caught there in your pyjamas at lunch hour. Which is where I found myself. It was one of those…

There’s a presence following us everywhere. Insinuating itself into our lives, as we enjoy movies, TV shows and music. This rude roommate not only lives with us, but follows us to school, to work and everywhere else that we go, constantly blathering to wear us down. Posing as an indulgent…

The MAGNIFICENT LOSER is one of my favourite character archetypes, because their stories explore how to live a brave life in the face of inevitable failure. Such stories were common in my homeland. Australians are as competitive as anybody else, but have a soft spot for noble failures. One of…

– all captions are from fortune cookies collected after dining in San Francisco.

ROBERT JOHN BAKER, my beloved father, has died. Finally succumbing to the effects of a stroke he suffered in 2018. Back then, I saw a MRI scan and the extent of the damage to Dad’s brain made the bristles stiffen on my neck. I couldn’t fathom how Dad could still…

A few months ago, I again walked the streets where I grew up. Any hometown is a memory palace, and moving through it unlocks feelings from long ago. Even more so when you no longer live there, and don’t visit often. This particular visit came when covid travel/visiting restrictions (in…

In the 1990s, STARTOONS was a Saturday Morning Cartoon production powerhouse, operating out of their facility south of Chicago. Before that though, their studio was briefly located in downtown Chicago where I worked for them one summer. …

A fave show of the past few years is BRITANNIA - A dark, dramatic (& surprisingly funny) retelling of the clash of cultures that resulted from the Roman Empire’s invasion of Celtic Britain. The series is set 90 years after Julius Caesar’s failed invasions of Britain, when the Romans tried…