It’s finally spring (no, for real this time) as we’ve cracked the season with that one specific night where everyone bursts out of their homes to linger on the street, all day and night. Yes, I live in the city, where it often smells bad but these days, thanks to everything blooming, smells so very nice.
If anything is going to be your sign to make time to free your mind with a bit of escape, let it be this seasonal shift. The first recommendation is always to get outside with a friend. We never regret it. When you come back inside, these three recommendations will keep the escape going with whatever time you can free up.
If you have…
4:08 minutes
Dance along with Diljit Dosanjh on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on YouTube
Want to know how the internet powers legacy media and vice versa? Let’s start with Diljit Dosanjh’s performance on The Tonight Show because it’s a banger and you’ll want to know what the kids are blaring from their cars this summer.
Last month, Punjabi musician Dosanjh returned to The Tonight Show to perform Morni, a collab with Punjabi Canadian artist Chani Nattan, and it went absolutely viral. Weeks later, it’s still being reshared. Social media comments range from, “The pride we all feel” to “I could watch this all day and I don’t understand a single word” (Dosanjh replied to this with heart emojis).
On the couch, Dosanjh shared how it felt to perform a sold-out show at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, steps from where the Komagata Maru was denied access to Canada in 1914, when the racial discrimination embedded in our immigration laws led to the ship’s passengers from India being barred entry and turned back for another long journey that ended in tragedy. A global pop star coolly calling out a national disgrace while getting the world to dance? Yes, he wins. We love to see it.
16 minutes
Spend it with your sassy kid watching ‘Apples,’ This Is A Gardening Show, Netflix
Zach Galifianakis in This is a Gardening Show.Netflix
Always eager for a few minutes of shared activity with the kids, I turned to my 12-year-old and asked, “Wanna watch a show? It’s about gardening.” The immediate response: “But you don’t even garden.” Touché. But I can absolutely watch a show about gardening – this, I know I’m capable of (yes, she watched it with me and I caught her giggling).
Netflix knew what they were doing when they dropped Zach Galifianakis’ This is a Gardening Show a good month ahead of the May long weekend, every gardener’s official start of the season. This is a show for people at every level of green thumb-ery. The irreverent and lovable Zach Galifianakis has gardened for 25 years (who knew?) and shares his curiosity as he learns about grafting trees, how to properly water tomato plants and more.
Since the dawn of streaming, I have binged every kind of show except maybe this, the cozy show, the kind you turn to for comfort. I usually need more plot. Not this time. With its gentle humour, down-to-earth (yes, I said it) guidance and cameos from adorable children, this is exactly the show that is hitting the spot.
50 minutes
Travel through time and listen to the 2026 Update: Skye, Heavyweight podcast
In this episode of Heavyweight, Skye, encouraged by her 11-year-old son, enlists host Jonathan Goldstein to help her find out why her childhood friends suddenly turned on her, graffitiing her family home with angry, painted swear words.
Heavyweight is Goldstein’s show, in which he tries to help people confront problems from their past through mediating reunions and difficult conversations. It has always been an absolutely perfect usage of this medium. Real ones have loved Goldstein for his wry voice since his Wiretap days on CBC Radio. Now in its 10th season, Heavyweight is revisiting episodes from the past with updates.
This episode with Skye was first published in 2018 and as I listened, I wondered, “Have I heard this one before?” I’m perimenopausal, so I can’t remember things from last week, and in any case, it doesn’t matter. When the details drop of what this girl gang did to Skye back then, my jaw is on the ground.
There’s nothing quite like the blithe cruelty of groups of children. The big question is, why? This is what Skye, her son, and Goldstein try to uncover, and this episode is Goldstein at his best – funny, gentle, encouraging. Catching up, in real life, to find out how Skye and her now-adult son look back on the conversation, is a lovely post-script to remind us that we can all heal, over time. Sometimes we just need to confront past wounds together.