Zoomer Magazine April/May 2021

As I write this, the Royal Family is in crisis mode. The 99-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, has been hospitalized for more than three weeks, and Buckingham Palace is dealing with the fallout of the throne-rattling interview Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, gave to Oprah Winfrey. The accusations – racism, callousness in the face of suicidal feelings, the Firm’s collusion with the tabloid press to falsely portray the Duchess in a negative light, the revelations that the heirs to the crown live in fear of said press and are trapped in the institution they represent – and the resulting Sturm und Drang across the pond and back is Shakespearean. And here, as the Bard wrote, the past is prologue. The Oprah sit-down hearkened…

As an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Mark Carney was deeply enmeshed in an economic system that, by his own account, suffers from a crisis of values – namely that “market economies” have evolved into “market societies,” where price determines the value of everything. The economist explores this disconnect in his new book Value(s): Building a Better World for All, which he penned at his Ottawa home during the pandemic last year. The book, which came out March 16, is billed as a “practical manifesto” for achieving a more humane society. It explores how misplaced value is at the centre of the rise in inequality, populism, systemic racism and the health and economic crises now gripping…

Neil, Youngest Neil Young’s latest live album and concert film, Young Shakespeare, features the earliest-known concert footage of the singer, shot on 16mm film in 1971. The Coal Miner’s Daughter remains Country Strong Loretta Lynn, who turns 89 in April, recently released her 50th studio album, Still Woman Enough, as a tribute to women in country music. In 2001, while the rest of us were glued to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? this guy was dreaming up a fortune A Toronto woman, 57, won $60 million after playing lottery numbers that came to her husband in a dream 20 years ago. Well, that explains the diamond-encrusted collar and gold-plated chew toys An 84-year-old man died and left his $5 million fortune to his border collie. A Pittsburgh-area McDonald’s worker…

EVERY GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY deserves some upgraded bling. For the 50th edition of the Juno Awards, winners will receive new gold and silver human-shaped statuettes – the sixth redesign since the inaugural Junos, when fans gathered at the St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto to see Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Stompin’ Tom Connors take home walnut trophies shaped like metronomes. Last March, 72 hours before show time in Saskatoon, the awards show was cancelled when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. After a truncated virtual version unfolded in June, expectations are high for this year’s virtual celebration of five decades of Canadian music, where 15-time Juno winners The Tragically Hip, including late lead singer Gord Downie, will receive the 2021 Humanitarian Award. The festivities return to Toronto, where…

IN DECEMBER 2019, mere months before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world into lockdown, Mary Walsh decided to take her show on the road. The Canadian comedian, 68, and fellow This Hour Has 22 Minutes alum Cathy Jones, 65, hopped a train and headed across the country for the second season of Broad Appeal: Living With E’s, their hit CBC series of digital shorts in which they play Mrs. Eulalia and Mrs. Enid, two seniors who offer “pre-posthumous lifestyle advice.” Speaking over the phone from her home in St. John’s, Walsh says her inspiration to take the “Mrs. E’s” on a trip came from two women she knows who began travelling when their pensions kicked in. “They were finally kicking up their heels after a lifetime of working their guts…

Sheet Pan Everything by Ricardo Larrivée (March 16) > Food Network Canada star Ricardo jumps from the frying pan onto the sheet pan with his foray into the one-dish meal craze with Sheet Pan Everything. The Quebec chef and TV personality says cooking on a baking tray concentrates flavours, minimizes clean up and, because the pan is made of metal, allows for finishing off under the broiler, which adds more flavour from caramelization. It’s also a time saver, with Perfectly Broiled Striploin Steaks ready in 10 minutes and Warm Greek Chicken Salad in 20. Ricardo being Québécois, there is Vegetable and Sausage Poutine but also other surprises like paella (the rice is cooked separately and tossed in for the last 10 minutes), raclette and even tiramisu. Vegetarians get some love…