Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 16: That Old Black Magic

| October 16, 2012

Back on Day 8, I wrote, “Children like to dabble in seances and Quija boards. They shouldn’t, but they do.” A similar comment could be made about the widespread practice, even in these days when the world has been repeatedly proven to be awash in bullshit, of people still clinging to mainstream news media as […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 14: The Year in Cannibalism

| October 14, 2012

In Dark Sentiments – 2010 we looked at the Wendigo phenomenon, and the strange case of Vincent Weiguang Li and Tim McLean in particular. In Dark Sentiments – 2011, the Wendigo was back, but we were also wallowing in what I might call more mainstream cannibalism – consensual and otherwise, with the added seasoning of […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 13: Joan

| October 13, 2012

This poem has been marinating for a while. It came to be from observing the self inflicted misery of several people – two in particular – and is presented here by special request from Mrs. LFM. I can deny her nothing. Suffice it to say that we’ve all met people who bring ugliness into the […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 12: Lesson Learned

| October 12, 2012

Back in the last century … I’m talking WAY back ’round about the autumn of 1975 … I was studying alchemy and arguments for and against the Earth being round, along with staying one step ahead of the Inquisition, at Nova Scotia’s prestigious Dalhousie University. Costly and time consuming as it was, most of what […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 11: Bertram’s Restaurant

| October 11, 2012

Murder by poison has a long dark history. For example, whether historically accurate or cooked up by rivals, the Borgia family name is indelibly stained with it. Poison is less used today for killing things that walk on two legs for reasons well presented by Esther Inglis-Arkell in her article The Deadliest Poisons in History […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 8: The Attic Room

| October 8, 2012

Children like to dabble in seances and Quija boards. They shouldn’t, but they do. I myself was once present at a seance in a grave yard that ended suddenly, and more than a little strangely, but that’s a story for another day. Nevertheless, there’s a little of that experience woven into what follows. The Attic […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 7: Grief

| October 7, 2012

Of no surprise to my readers will be the disclosure that my brand of humour veers sharply toward the dark side. My dance card of funeral attendance over the years includes both my parents, four uncles and one aunt, an assortment of friends and the parents of others, and that’s just the humans. If memory […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 4: The Burning Hell

| October 4, 2012

I first heard, indeed first heard of, The Burning Hell only last week when Stuart McLean played their song When the World Ends to end an episode of The Vinyl Cafe. Give it a listen and you’ll get a clue why I was instantly hooked, and why The Burning Hell is the first featured artist for […]

Worldly Wisdom Wednesday – The Word of the Day is “Garniture”

| October 3, 2012

“Everything in Nature is about efficiency and balance, which is why life is, first and foremost, an exercise in energy management. For example, the Way of the Wild demands of each parent that their offspring be made self-sufficient as quickly and efficiently as possible. A tool need not be a physical artifact – rest assured […]

Dark Sentiments 2012 – Day 3: Love Thine Enemy

| October 3, 2012

Love Thine Enemy By LFM T’is said to love thine enemy Is much to be admired, And I only learned just yesterday It’s something I desired. It happened near a month ago, I met a man one day, The fate of whom converged with mine On roads where trouble lay. So I sought the village […]