Author: Michael Murray

On Monday night, when Rachelle and I were at the Masonic Temple for the taping of a TV show, I recognized one other member of the audience. Sitting two rows ahead of us, in a sliver and black disco shirt, was a 75 year-old man named Salvatore. We had worked as volunteers together at the…

On Monday night, Rachelle and I went to the Masonic Temple to see a taping of the Bravo show Live at the Rehearsal Hall. Montreal’s Patrick Watson was to be performing, but before that, the stage manager of the show took the floor. Used to being unloved, it was her job to suck all the…

Sometimes, when we’re out on a walk, my dog just sort of freaks-out. She’ll get all anxious and shivery, and starts pulling on the lead, desperate to cross the road and head home. It’s always a mystery to me, and I find it spooky. Animals, of course, can see, smell and hear things that we…

The city doesn’t smell right. All day long it’s been raining with great intensity, but instead of redeeming the city by washing all the filth away, the rain has just provided it with some locomotion. Toronto is now in it’s fourth year of a garbage strike, and with the rain, the place has become a…

A friend of mine once worked on a fishing boat off the coast of British Columbia. One day, while passing through the galley, she noticed two fishermen sitting at the kitchen table. They had out an old copy of People or In Touch magazine in front of them and were flipping through it. “Would you…

As some of you may know, I suffered a home invasion by a warrior raccoon on Wednesday afternoon. The animal was particularly aggressive, and as Heidi and I were feeling a little under the weather, we were unable to fight, and were forced to take refuge in the front room. It was all a little…

Yesterday was my sweet Petal’s birthday. We had a lovely and romantic dinner out, but sadly, the flowers that I bought for her were kind of dismal. I purchased them on a whim, up on Dupont Street at the Green Times Happy Sauce Chinese and Canadian Cuisine Go-Out Restaurant. They had a little display on…

The first thing that he does is turtle. He turns himself upside down on the sofa and begins a low, steady whine. His father tries to coax him out of this behaviour by calling him “love.” But instead of speaking normally, he puts a British spin on it, “Luv.” The boy has bee-stung lips and…

In 1978, when I was in grade seven, I saw the movie Capricorn 1. Starring James Brolin, Sam Waterston and O. J. Simpson as astronauts being forced to fake a Nasa mission to Mars, the movie was a convoluted mess of conspiracy theories and bad acting. The astronauts, eventually learning that they were to be…