Angel >> Gazette columnist Nick Auf der Maur Last Friday's awards ceremony for Mordecai Richler's Prix-Parizeau was a who's who of Montreal's writing community. But despite the presence of such luminaries as Mordecai, Moses Znaimer and Prix-Parizeau winner David Manicom, Auf der Maur upstaged them all. Although he looked a little worse for wear after major surgery--the spring wasn't in his step, and he appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight--Nick nevertheless announced to the alterna-journalists' table that he had just recently drank his first tequila since his release from hospital. Way to get back on the horse, Nick. We missed you.

Insect >> Barney™ the litigious purple dinosaur Barney may be a children's icon, but he's also the centre of a very, very protective money-making machine, replete with executive assistants, image handlers and, yes, lawyers. Barney's owners have filed suit in a Texas court against the San Diego Chicken. Apparently the Chicken, who tours stadiums across North America, has been performing a skit in which the Chicken dresses a lackey up in a Barney suit and ridicules him. Despite the thick foam costume, Barney is obviously thin-skinned. Lesson for all the children out there: be nice, and if other kids aren't nice to you, sue their chickenshit ass.