King

Royal baby: what happens in the next few months

With so many palaces to choose from, how will Will and Kate decide?

Máxima of the Netherlands heralds a new era for royal Europe

The Netherlands will soon have its first king in 123 years. But it’s his queen that has people talking.

Why royals always travel with black clothes

On royal etiquette and mourning protocol

I was digging through an old hard drive this evening and came across some pictures I shot on Parliament Hill a while ago. I’m not sure how old these are, but I think I took them in the winter of 2007-08. I’m a lousy photographer, but I like the one of Pearson.

Canuck Lyndon Rush knew this track better than anyone

And still he put it in the ditch

Animation Wrap-Up

All four of Fox’s animated sitcoms have ended their 2007-8 seasons, and once again, surprisingly, American Dad was the best of the four. I did not like it when it started, and even now it’s hardly on a level with the best episodes of The Simpsons or King of the Hill or even cult flops like The Critic. But it actually has a certain amount of storytelling integrity, which is to say that no matter how ridiculous the stories are, they are structured in a logical and satisfying way, a lot of the humour comes from the characters (especially the nerdy son, Steve) and if the story is built around a political/social issue it will actually address that issue and make it part of the story’s resolution. Simple stuff, but not often found on the other three, longer-running shows. The voice cast has come together very well, too. I suspect that some of the improvement in American Dad is attributable to the addition, a couple of years ago, of showrunner Rich Appel, one of the best showrunners King of the Hill ever had; the fact that Appel will be co-creating the Family Guy spinoff, Cleveland, makes me feel almost optimistic for that show, except that: