Links, and Maxime

A Wrinkle in Time revisited. "Geared Up" (from The Walrus, on urban cycling) is a stellar piece of journalism. Rona Maynard remembers a friend. Type Books in Toronto Life (thanks for that, Jennie). Lorrie Moore profiled.

In light of The Bernier Affair, three for thought on femmes fatales. Heather Mallick says that Julie Couillard's fabulous breasts are not a crime. Though I'm not sure I'd go as far as as to say that Couillard is "involuntarily or just reluctantly in the public eye". She's faced harsh criticism, no doubt, but she isn't a victim. Which is why I love her, why I love Maxime (I call him that), and why I love the whole affair. It's a capital A Affair, it is, and miraculously, considering the Canadian government and the Conservative Party in particular, involves only fantastic looking people. Like American TV! Except that no wives were betrayed, no children had their very foundations broken, and even though National Security was breached (how exciting!), we all sort of know it wasn't.

Corruption and intrigue, with everybody behaving as badly as everybody else, no one really gets hurt. Except Maxime, he of the gorgeously tailored suits, but I feel like he'll recover. That's what happens when Ladykiller meets the Maneater (and she's even got a trail of dead behind her [and those still living have joined witness protection programs!]). She'll recover too, and probably get a talk show. Maxime will find a new companion. The whole story is already beginning to end, but it was a wonderful one. A reprieve from the boring soundbites, soulless leadership, uninspiring, grating, patronizingly mind-numbing excuse we've got for governance in this country. Good governance, of course, would be nice, but I will settle for scandal in the meantime. Sadly, scandal is the very best our sorry lot can do towards making Canadian politics as fabulous as Julie Couillard's breasts are.