My Favourite Things of 2025 (Part One)

My favourite album: Revelation (The Knocks and Dragonette)

I particularly like the euphoric bubblegum pop of “Dreams”, but I won’t skip a single track on this one — even “Keynote”, which is best described a dramatic monologue set to music. The Knock’s earlier albums have some great hits as well: I’m partial to “Slow Song”, also featuring Dragonette, and “River” .

My favourite theatre production: The Winter’s Tale at Stratford

I loved Graham Abbey as Benedick; and I thought he was amazing in what I view to be one of the most challenging Shakespeare parts when he played Lord Capulet last year. My expectations for his performance as Leontes were sky-high, and yet he somehow managed to surpass them. I’ll likely write more in depth about this production later; I don’t think I’ve ever loved a Stratford production so much. I bawled, I laughed. My one complaint: No physical bear.

My favourite new Toronto store: Hopeless Romantic

I love a romance novel and I love a specialty store! Hopeless Romantic knows what it’s about, from the eye-searing pink of its branding to its “Spice Level” rating system. I was impressed by the knowledge level of the staff, even in the face of my somewhat specific request of a book written in the third person.

My favourite picture of my brother’s cat

Adrian (alias “Kitty”) is a perfect creature.