You may have missed her in the TV series I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant or on the big screen in Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver, but actress Huong Hoang has gained notoriety after filing a $1 million lawsuit against Amazon for mining her IMDb account to learn her age and then posting it on her profile. Apparently the news that Miss Hoang is 40 will damage her ability to get roles in youth-obsessed Hollywood. Who knows, she may be passed over in the casting for Gingerdead Man 4. She was born in 1971, which, inter alia, is the same year as Convivium's editor-in-chief. But readers should not worry: Convivium is not past its prime. Our publisher, Peter Stockland, is older than 40, but can easily play much younger roles.
Having concluded its final season, Little Mosque on the Prairie has been one of CBC's more successful shows for the past six years. Exported around the world, its folksy appeal and lame jokes show how small-town Canadians are just tickety-boo with their Muslim neighbours. So fabulously does everyone get on that a recent episode had the local imam and Anglican priest nominated for an interfaith award. The cash prize got the two to pretend to be religious relativists—that being the default option for interfaith relations to a certain mindset. How to get along? Decide that the matters on which differences exist don't matter. Everything was going swimmingly until the priest mentioned that Christianity is older than Islam. "Saying the church came first seems to indicate a certain hierarchy," replies the imam, and a heated dispute follows. Interfaith dialogue built upon a foundation of relativism runs aground when truth is taken seriously, and historical claims are either true or false.
Baber, the imam, knows that religious believers who seek unity at the price of truth are playing a fool's game. "Divided we stand; united we fall," is how he puts it. If unity means that division over truth simply doesn't matter, then he is right.
In Catholic parishes, May and June is the season for children to make their First Holy Communion. It may be less festive in Ireland this year. The Department of Social Protection has announced a cut in payments for "extraordinary" expenses, which in Ireland includes helping lowincome families pay for First Communion and Confirmation expenses. Last year, some 14,000 families received, on average, €242. The government is now capping it at €110. Reuters reports: "The cost of a white dress, matching veil, shoes and handbag for an eight-year-old girl making her First Holy Communion can run to hundreds of euros. There can be additional expenses for a professional hairdo and, in some cases, makeup, spray tan and fake nails." Back in the days when Ireland was thoroughly backward, First Communion was less expensive, and additional expenses ran to items such as prayer books, holy medals and rosaries.
The mandate by the Obama administration that religious-affiliated institutions would have to provide employees with insurance coverage for sterilization, contraception and pharmacological abortion, provoked an enormous firestorm in the United States, and a discussion of the morality of contraception itself. The New York Times put it on the front page and consulted the experts. "The Rev. Debra W. Haffner, executive director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, a liberal interfaith group that works on sexuality issues, said, 'The mainstream religious voice has supported contraception for decades, at least for the last 40 years.' " A theological opinion that stretches back to 1972? Goodness, that was even before Steve Jobs founded Apple. The "mainstream religious voice" on sexual morality is not quite as venerable as say, Calvin or Luther or the apostolic Didache, but if the world began in 1968 and discovered sex soon thereafter, 40 years is as traditional as it gets.
Scott Feschuk has a humour column in Maclean's and passes on this rather sensible idea: "Perhaps you have heard of a new gimmick to restore actual human eye contact to meals. Upon arriving at a restaurant, all those who are dining together must put their phones in the middle of the table. The first person to reach for his or her device is obliged to pick up the entire dinner tab. I for one think this is a great idea but would add one small tweak: everyone at the table should also get to stab that person in the hand with a fork." In the digital age, is it now advisable to stab the hand that feeds you?
Former rapper, former underwear model, former street hoodlum and current actor Mark Wahlberg, was out promoting his latest film, Contraband. After a most circuitous path, Wahlberg is now a family man rather serious about his Catholic faith. So he was chatting with the hosts of This Morning on CBS, Gayle King and Charlie Rose, the former famous for being Oprah's best friend and the latter for his eponymous late-night PBS talk show where Serious People Discuss Serious Things. Wahlberg mentioned that he always carries a dictionary with him in order to learn new words. Rose asked him about the last word he looked up. Wahlberg said "consubstantial." The translation of the Nicene Creed has changed in the Catholic Mass, and "consubstantial" was in his daily prayer book. Rose's jaw hit the floor. Eyes disbelieving, the interlocutor of prime ministers and Pulitzer Prize winners asked, "So in your briefcase is a dictionary and also a prayer book?" There would have been less shock if Wahlberg had mentioned that he was carrying around pornographic magazines. A prayer book? Well, yes, Wahlberg explained, it's important to "get on my knees every day and thank God." Poor Charlie Rose likely never thought getting up at the crack of dawn would expose him to such odd customs.
The last 14 major championships in golf have been won by 14 different men. Fourteen times in a row it has been Not Tiger. Not that Tiger has slunk away in embarrassment at being revealed to have a moral character well below par. He is making his comeback, and on March 25 won his first golf tournament since his professional and personal life was buried under an avalanche of adultery in November 2009. The golf world went all a-twitter that perhaps Tiger would win the Masters a fortnight later. He finished not 4th or 14th, but 40th. Just in time for the Masters, Tiger's former swing instructor Hank Haney released his coach-and-tell memoir. Haney apparently was in the dark about all of Tiger's rutting, but certainly knew of his revolting behaviour. A month before the 2006 Ryder Cup, Tiger was rooming with teammate Zach Johnson in Ireland. Knowing that Johnson was a devout Christian, Tiger "immediately purchased the adult-movie channel 24-hour package and turned the television on." While Johnson ignored the porn, Tiger was proud of his adolescent stunt. "It was so funny watching him," Woods told Haney. This year's Masters champion is Bubba Watson, who is the perfect Not Tiger—wholesome and cheerful and kind to fans. He marked his first major championship by tweeting "To God be the glory." Watson participates in a regular Bible study on the PGA Tour that includes, among others, Zach Johnson. No doubt Bubba would be a better roommate at the next Ryder Cup
I had rather forgotten about Don Martin, who used to write a political column for the National Post until he 08 decamped for television, where he hosts a political chat show. On budget night, the Ottawa Citizen reported that Martin was at Hy's Steakhouse and apparently said something rude to the prime minister's former communications director, who promised to speak to the CEO of Bell, which owns CTV, on which Martin's show appears. It's the type of story that intrigues the political class in Ottawa but no one else. It's a cozy scene, no? Budget night in Ottawa, the great matters of State have been addressed in the House of Commons, and the movers and shakers have moved and shaken their way over to Hy's—everyone who is supposed to hold each other to account is down at the bar together. Don Martin's been a regular at Hy's for so long that he remembers when Belinda Stronach was a drinking buddy. He wrote an entire book about her, but like many things said in bars, no one could remember why it seemed a good idea in the morning. Reporters ought to remember that when they write about Hy's. Even better, they ought to remember that and opt out of the Hy's scene altogether.
Ontario is in financial straits. So Dwight Duncan, the finance minister, has proposed that the government of Ontario open a casino on the Toronto waterfront. Ontario has found gambling to be rather lucrative—more lucrative that running a government. All revenues, no services. Some Toronto city councillors are not eager to have a casino, but Mr. Duncan is determined. If Toronto doesn't place its bet soon, some other city will get to play. "It's not a casino; it will be an entertainment destination. It will likely be unparalleled in the country," Mr. Duncan said. "These places have some of the finest shopping, restaurants, convention facilities, park spaces, open spaces. Imagine an anchor that could create a golden mile on Toronto's waterfront." Shopping, fine dining, conventions? What isolated and blighted part of the province is in need of such cosmopolitan enhancements? Downtown Toronto. Haven't we been told for more than a decade that Toronto is a "world-class city"? No matter how much the rest of the country likes to take shots at Toronto, it does not deserve the humiliation of Ontario's government thinking it needs the same economic development schemes hatched for Windsor.
Speaking of fine dining, the latest initiative at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority is to develop upscale restaurants at Pearson airport. Fine dining? How about a simple drugstore? Ever tried to buy an aspirin en route through YYZ? Culinary-wise, most Pearson passengers would be content with a food court less than a kilometre from wherever it is they need to be. Airports all over North America have managed to put an array of options at nearly every gate. World class in airport design means simple, useful services where you need them. Open a second Tim Horton's in the gate area, and put in a Harvey's, where a patriotic hamburger can be got in a hurry. Fine dining can be had at the local Ontario government casino.
Pope Benedict XVI curiously decided to spend a half hour with Fidel Castro on his March visit to Cuba. Well, it was Lent. Apparently the old tyrant had questions about liturgical reform, which is something of a surprise from a man whose principal contribution to matters liturgical has been making clandestine Masses necessary. Fidel also told the Holy Father that he was pleased with the beatifications of Mother Teresa and John Paul II and looked forward to their being made saints. Fidel expressed his view on saints? The process of canonization once required a "devil's advocate." Rarely has the devil had a more suitable one
