If you use Chrome, you can stop the auto-play videos from loading by clicking on the little page symbol in the URL field, to the left of the site name. In the list of permissions, you can block "plugins"--autoplay videos usually need the flash plugin to run. You can probably do this in Firefox and Safari too if needed.

The Toast is one of only two sites I have whitelisted on Adblock, and this is the only way I can keep most ads showing without crashing everything. Hopefully it works for you too.

This piece is so, so lovely and somber and just right. I lived in Ottawa for eight years (I'm in Winnipeg now). You're right that Ottawa exists in the spaces between. It does that beautifully and always will.

eta: Also I am crazy about your dad.

And... yikes, I see that they did mention it in a segment in the middle. Sorry about that.
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And HOW HYSTERICAL that in their artwork for the piece, they used a satire/genderflipped cover of A Clockwork Orange by "Antonia" Burgess, from last year? They should be mortified. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/223209725254051615/
My recent post list 5: dream country

That word "serious"... if only they hadn't gone there and played in the muck of literary-vs-commercial. Leaving out the bit about Messud/Weiner, and by not saying "serious" when they described the female novelists in the article, they would have missed out on contretemps and discussion in their comments section and shares and inbound links from blogs like this one. Thank goodness for that tacky SEO tag!

I mean, I see their rationale now. And I absolutely applaud you for calling them out. That said:

This isn't a surprise to me. My experience with Elle's book coverage has been that they mostly cover literary work by women, and I'm not surprised to see that literary writers are themselves recommending other literary writers. A magazine that basically demonstrates elitism in fashion, decor, beauty, and travel is surely going to demonstrate elitism in its book coverage. And what says elitism like "You will find no Jennifer Weiner in THIS listing of Verrah Surrius Books!" This is not to say that a person who reads Elle is never going to read a Natalia Sylvester book, or a Jennifer Weiner--it just means that they also get book recs from other places that aren't so narrow-minded.
My recent post list 5: dream country