Working (from home) for the weekend (at home)

Loverboy didn’t have this in mind

Tobi Lutke 🌳🌲🛒🕹 @tobi

As of today, Shopify is a digital by default company. We will keep our offices closed until 2021 so that we can rework them for this new reality. And after that, most will permanently work remotely. Office centricity is over.

Shopify recently opened a nine-floor office in downtown Toronto, signed a deal for a larger nearby one to come, and had big plans in Vancouver. But its Ottawa-based CEO Tobi Lutke says the company is now “digital by default.” The uncertain future of downtown office culture coincides with questions about the hospitality and nightlife surrounding it.

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A weighty threat around tests

HuffPost Canada @HuffPostCanada

“I’ll be like an 800-pound gorilla on their backs every single day if I have to ...” @fordnation said

huffp.st‘It’s Frustrating,’ Ford Says As Ontario Lags Behind Testing CapacityOntario did 10,506 tests for the novel coronavirus Wednesday — far below its capacity of 21,000.

Doug Ford vowed to put further poundage toward COVID-19 testing in Ontario, where the number of new cases are rising again. Toronto park amenities are reopening anyhow, as the weather brought out exuberant crowds that appeared too close for comfort. But some infections disease experts say that it’s time to lift the lockdown.

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An identity politics subplot to the Conservative leadership race. Leslyn Lewis was surprised by comments that her views didn’t align with those of the newly formed Association of Black Conservatives, given that she’s also one. It forced their preferred candidate, Erin O’Toole, to address the dissonance, a message that Lewis approved.

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Where the irony is dying now

COVID-19 has supposedly boosted the enthusiasm for positive stories. Newspaper publishers blame coronavirus content for accelerating advertiser aversion concurrent with the YouTube series Some Good News striking it rich. And now Canada’s Weather Network is entering the fray with an antidote:

A Brighter Day @Brighter_Day

#ABrighterDay is here ☀ There's so much good news out there Canada -- let's share more of it! Check out bit.ly/ABrighterDay for feel-good content that'll put a smile on your face 😊

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How the main character of Twitter became Jia Tolentino. Defending her parents against being described as “human traffickers” met with empathy from fellow journalists. Naturally, it prompted others to dig deeper into details of what they were accused of. Tolentino says those aren’t true.

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Finally, social distance profiling

Catherine O’Hara made it to the pages of Vanity Fair, with a pre-pandemic interview illustrated by her in the sort of designer clothes that get their own credits. But when it was time to take photos during quarantine, it was more expedient to do them with a drone, proving SCTV character Johnny LaRue right about the need for crane shots:

VANITY FAIR @VanityFair

Here’s Catherine O’Hara as you’ve never seen her before: photographed by drone! The Schitt’s Creek star dishes on her early friendship with Gilda Radner, flubbed auditions, and the curative power of gratitude

vntyfr.comCatherine O’Hara, Queen of Schitt’s Creek, Talks Gilda Radner Friendship & MoreCatherine O’Hara’s performance on the dearly departed comedy was a career-topping triumph—and now feels like an allegory for our altered times. V.F. photographed her with a drone, and talked to her about her early friendship with Gilda Radner, flubbed auditions, and the curative power of gratitude.