Gordon Brockhouse is now semi-retired after a 45-year career as a technology writer and editor. He has served as editor of several magazines, including Marketnews and Here’s How!, and as editor-at-large for Wifi Hifi. He has also contributed articles to daily newspapers, business magazines, lifestyle magazines and technology magazines in Canada and the US. Currently, he writes about lifestyle audio products for SoundStage!
Airline: Porter.
Airport: Billy Bishop (Toronto Island).
Beach or Mountain: Beach. This one.
Book, fiction: Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy.
Book, non-fiction: Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music.
Breakfast (Weekday): Oatmeal with fresh fruit, walnuts, yogurt, and milk. Strong coffee.
Breakfast (Weekend): French toast with maple syrup, pork belly, fresh fruit. Strong coffee.
Band: Can I pick a musician instead of a band? That’d be Keith Jarrett. He led several trios and quartets during his career—shouldn’t these count as bands? Jarrett’s solo concerts are masterpieces.
Car: I’m not a car guy. My current ride (2008 RAV4) has 300,000km on the clock, and is still running fine (but it looks pretty rough). If I can keep it going a while longer, I figure I’ll need to buy just one more car before I die, hopefully an EV. Hyundai Kona, maybe? If I win the lottery, an Audi Q4 e-tron.
City: It’s chauvinistic, but I gotta say Toronto. The centre of the universe faces some major problems: non-stop construction, ridiculous traffic, a deteriorating transit system, unaffordable housing, homelessness, and random violence. But Toronto has a bustling restaurant scene, a lively music scene, wonderful neighbourhoods, a beautiful waterfront, and lovely parks. Favorite foreign city: Paris.
Country: Canada. France is my favourite foreign country.
Cocktail: Paper plane.
Comedian: Dave Chappelle.
Date: July 13, 2013, the day I married my missus.
Daydream: A three-way with my missus and Scarlett Johannson. No, gotta keep it clean. Drifting into eternity, with all my loved ones thriving.
Diet: Intermittent fasting (eating within a 10-hour window every day). This is a permanent lifestyle change. I’ve dropped about 25 pounds since starting this a year ago, and kept it off.
Dinner (weekday): Something simple—maybe pasta and salad (winter) or a burger and salad (summer).
Dinner (weekend): Saturday is date night, starting with dinner at a restaurant we can walk to. Sunday is a big comfort meal, maybe roast chicken, stuffing, mash, a vegetable, and a bottle of wine.
Desert: Pavlova.
Dress: Jeans and flannel shirt (winter) or Hawaiian shirt (summer).
Excuse: No excuses. Just make it happen.
Family: Big, blended, and extended, all of them cherished.
Hideaway: Our little place in Southampton, ON.
Holiday: Christmas.
Hotel: Hav A Nap Motel in Scarborough. Just kidding. I’m not a hotel guy. If the place is clean, comfortable, and convenient, that’s all I need.
Indulgences: Almost my entire life is an indulgence, to be perfectly honest.
Movie: Fargo.
Movie Star: Female—Amy Adams. Male—Joaquin Phoenix.
Music: I go through phases. Right now, I’m listening to a lot of modern classical—Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannson, Arvo Pärt, etc.
Pet: Viggo.
Piece of advice: The truth will set you free. The whole truth. Nothing but the truth. Lying to yourself keeps you locked in a prison.
Politics: Radical centre.
Restaurant: Too many to mention, but if I must pick just one, the Foxley in Toronto. Best ceviche in the universe. Great staff. Good whiskey selection, including some Irishes I haven’t found anywhere else.
Saying: Trust the universe.
Singer: Female—Janis Joplin. Male—Jim Morrison. Both gone way too soon.
Sound System: Currently KEF LS60 Wireless (living room) and Q Acoustics Q Active 200 (home office).
Sports: Olympic-style weightlifting and heliskiing.
Television Series: The Sopranos and The Wire are 1A and 1B; both were revolutionary. Recent favourites include My Brilliant Friend, Severance, Succession, and The White Lotus. We’re living in the golden age of TV, comparable to Florence in the time of Michelangelo and Raphael; London in the time of Shakespeare and Jonson; Vienna in the time of Mozart and Beethoven.
Theme Song: Across the Universe.
Time of Day: 4:20.
Trade show: High End, Munich.
Water: Frozen into a cube, with a splash of Four Roses on top.