This is the end. Of In ze Dark (Deutsch). I think. Maybe. Pretty sure. I’ve said this before.

On today’s episode Stephen Dorsey and I are joined by Matthew. Can’t remember his last name. Doesn’t matter anyway. He’s smart. We talk Ontario politics. And we do it because shit’s gonna hit the fan and this is our style of activism. We don’t want Dougie Ford to be Premier. I don’t feel safe right now!

So, this should/might/probs be the last inthedarkshow.com post. I want you to head on over to the iTunes sometime and subscribe to Politicized. It will start off as Ontario politics but it will move into Canadian politics thereafter.

We’re doing it guys!

XOXXX

JB

The nerds want us to always be staring at our phone even if we’re at dinner in a restaurant with friends or family. No, that’s not good enough, they say. You gotta take a picture of that dinner and brag about it on instagram. And while you’re at it call it ‘Insta or ‘Gram ‘cause something this cool has to have a cute nickname. Then go outside and take a selfie by bashing your stupid phone into your face until you hear the shutter go click. Then walk out into traffic and see if moving cars will like you too.

Why not live-stream the next time you and your partner are fighting? It’d be closer to a reality we all share.

Let’s get back to not being so worried about missing out on things that don’t even really exist. The good stuff happens when you’re not looking at your phone.

Unless you’re subscribing to my podcast!

Today Yael Staav (the woman that sits right beside me at the office) interviews me!

Love youuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

JB

Today I get politicized with Kevin Burke. He explains Kathy-Dubs (aka the Premier), Doug Ford the former drug dealer, the invisible NDP, handsome-thing Jagmeet Singh, what’s happening in Saskatchewan and Cambridge Analytica (UK) and their involvement in Canadian elections.

Of Note…

And as always I yell and scream off the top for ten minutes: this week it’s about how you should vote for your grandma, that tough-as-nails older broad that knows how to get things done.

In the meantime and in between time* I’m reaching around you…

JB in a cold and snowy 416

*Courtesy of the late, great Ed Whalen.

Today I get yelly about the women. Women are on the move. They’re young and they’re brown and it’s the perfect time to invest in the very thing that’s coming whether you like it or not. It’s #metoo and #timesup but it’s also #becauseI’mAGirl, #investingirls, #futureisfemale, #menstruationmatters, #pressforprogress, #stoptheviolence, #Shedecides and #girlsnotbrides. It’s a goddamn revolution and yet there still seems to be a few dinosaurs afoot that refuse to wake up.

Then I talk to card-carrying Liberal Stephen Dorsey about how we’re both disappointed with the Left. It’s a great chat because it’s not boring and it’s full of learning and sharing… And reaching.

As in Reachers,

J.B. in a warm, wet Toronto

Dear Left Wing,

I’m a left-winger but I’m telling you if you keep acting like pussies you will not only lose me but you will lose all that is near and dear to you.

We are the status quo. And as long as we’re not willing to wake-up and change, our home will be changed for us. Prepare for the darkness… The Right is on the move here in Canada.

People of the Left where hath thou oves and balls gone?

Today on the show I have a great talk with Richard J. Lewis, director/producer on HBO’s Westworld.

The Basal Ganglia is the oldest part of the brain. It’s where habit lives. We can disengage the newer layers of the brain – those that do the critical thinking and let the inner brain take over. We don’t even have to think about it anymore. It’s habit now. We’re like an athlete in the zone or an artist inspired or a musician in a fugue state. This is where I’ve had to put exercise or I wouldn’t do it ever. This is where Justy Trews has to put prime ministering. He’s screwing it up. He has bad habits. It’s time for a reset. It’s time for some rul real talk with Sophie.

My friend Kevin comes on and explains politics for me again. You’ll love it.

Reachers,

JB in a sunny and chilly Toronto

If Donald Trump didnt have any money would his kids still love him? Would Melania? If DJT was broke would he have any friends? Does he have any now?

Has he done anything worthy of love ever?

Its imperative these days that we laugh to stop ourselves from crying. We mjust also remain vigilante and not stick our heads in the sand. The comedians will get us through this. Those that are brave enough to speak the truth no matter what. Today I speak to one such individual.

Dylan Rhymer is an old friend and now an old stand-up. Hes been doing it more than twenty years and is still talking the talk.

Today I listen to his talk on how hes kept going in the face of great adversity. Great talk.

Reachers (consensual, natch),

J.B. in a cold and sunny Toronto

“When you need cocaine, you need cocaine.”

My guest today talks about her addiction to coke and her journey through recovery. It’s a great chat with a great and hilarious friend that’s come through a lot and is now out to help others in a big way. She also talks about her fear of tiny holes. Zoinks!

I also rant on about a junk food tax and how good it would be here in Canada. We pay extra taxes on booze and smokes, eh? Why not on similarly egregious things you put in your mouth like highly refined foods made in a factory by heartless multinationals that chose carcinogenic aldehydes over love as an ingredient?

Anyway…

Love youuuuuuuuuuu!

JB

How are you dealing with everything? Are you a newly minted activist? Are you a fatalist? Are you making the world a better place or hiding your head in the sand these days?

I have become obsessed with cooking and baking. This recent uptick in passions I’m sure can be tied to the state of the world (aka a dumpster fire. We’re living in a dumpster and it is actually on fire.) For every headline about the harrowing effects of climate change I pop another batch of brown butter toffee cookies in the oven. For every Trumpian tweet I make another pot of bucatini. Am I making the world better? Arguable. Will I stop? No. Do I like asking myself questions and then answering them? You betcha!

Today, my buddy Kevin comes on the show and explains the latest in Canadian politics including the shit-storm of grossness that is male politicians in Ontario. He is a concerned citizen. His opinions are his own.

My opinions are half-baked and ill-informed.

I learned a lot from Kev and so will you and guess what? It’s not boring.

I never want to bore you. I want to reach around you… and give you a…

Reachers! (consensual)

J.B. in a very cold and sunny Toronto

My friend Ellie from Calgary calls in with a complaint about the red tape around moving a corpse from B.C. to Alberta. This is what The Complaint Department was built for! This is where you come with all your corpse-moving complaints.

Ellie’s brother Fraser died in Kelowna but because he’s Albertan they needed to move him home for a proper send-off. The province wouldn’t release the body without his social insurance number. Ellie didn’t know it ’cause her brother was a homeless man. He wasn’t packin’ his identification. The crazy thing is the province had his SIN but needed to hear it from Ellie in order to release her late brother’s body to her.

Way to go bureaucracy!

But before that I rant about the one resolution that Justy Trews should make for 2018. The one thing that he could do to cement his place on the right side of history in this country. Tune in to find out more!

Loving you, meaning it…

J.B. in a cold and sunny Toronto