Author: Michael Murray

In Jimmy Simpson Park there are little purple bedecked soccer players. An eight-year old girl wearing a hijab is preparing to shoot on the goalie. Nervous, very nervous, she runs up and kicks the ball which bounces past the goaltender. Astonished, she turns around to face the rest of the team, her fingers clenched in…

My wife just started taking tennis lessons from some dude from Buenos Aires. I have to say that I wasn’t overly thrilled to hear this as it struck me as little more than hiring a gigolo for an hour each afternoon. In order to illustrate this point I told Rachelle that I had engaged the…

These are the text messages that I received from my wife on June, 28th, 2011 **************************** such a long day at work! should be home soon. xox traffic nuts, won’t be home til 7:30 at earliest. yes, that’s right michael, i’m having an affair. with a traffic jam. no, i don’t think you’ve lost your…

Today I have given the Blog over to Heidi, our Miniature Dachshund for the day ************************************* When Heidi pack went away they left her at camp where Heidi found Word of the Lord. Good Word. Heidi walk, run and dig with Jesus. But soon after, Heidi found out that God say animals have no soul…

The Thin Red Line is my favourite movie of all time and I have always thought of it’s director, Terrance Malick as a genius. As far as the art of cinema goes, as far as art goes in fact, I’ve never been much for narrative but have always preferred work that’s impressionistic and personal, mysteriously…

Near College and Yonge Street an old woman was sitting on a stoop. She appeared to be homeless and was wearing so many inappropriate layers of coarse wool as to give her the appearance of a character from a fairy tale. She had a hand cupped over one of her ears and was rocking back…

This morning I received this rather terse email: First name: Dinara. Surname: Smirnova. Country: Russian Federation. City: Dzerzhinsk. Age: 34. Height: 177 centimetres Weight: 55 kilograms. Eyes: green. Hair Color: It is brown. My Type of Man: I’m waiting for honest, open-minded and traditionally oriented man who must not fail in courage and performance. Character:…

I probably spent more time that I should have on Thursday debating the likelihood of whether this photograph was staged or genuine. It’s an arresting, sexy picture, as if an American Apparel ad had been airbrushed into a scene of civic unrest. The pair who are kissing look beautiful, like models called in to perform…

On Saturday, while Rachelle and I were waiting in the line-up to have brunch at Lady Marmalade, I was lucky enough to encounter a heretofore undiscovered prejudice of mine. It turns out that I’m completely bigoted against women who wear Stars and Stripes tights. This instinctive antipathy is horribly exacerbated if they’re wearing sunglasses, tossing…