Morning Brief: A 'White Lotus' Finale Wrap-Up, Great Experience Gifts & More

Good morning — Andrew from Narcity here. ☕

Off The Top: Dave Chappelle took time out of his standup show in San Francisco over the weekend to welcome Elon Musk to the stage, at which point the world's richest man was apparently summarily booed for about 10 straight minutes. Musk would later downplay the cacophony as the work of a small group of "unhinged leftists" — just the sort of crowd that would definitely shell out hundreds of bucks to see a comedian who's spent the last several years positioning himself as an anti-woke comedian.

In Case You Missed It

1. Season 2 Of The White Lotus Is In The Books; Here's What We Know About Season 3

Season 2 of HBO's The White Lotus, the breakout pandemic-era tragicomedy satire disguised as a murder mystery, concluded its seven-episode run on Sunday. (Don't worry; we're not going to get into spoiler territory here.) The second season of quasi-anthology series picked up in beautiful southern Italy with almost an entirely new cast, most notably returning Emmy-winner Jennifer Coolidge as rich, strikingly unaware heiress Tanya. As teased in the opening minutes of the season premiere, the show finally reveals which of the guests of the White Lotus beach resort meet their fatal comeuppance. In spoilerific fashion, Asymina Kantorowicz rounds up the fallout from the smash hit — including what we know so far about the inevitable third season.

• My Take: The MVP of the series? Give me Parks & Recreation alum Aubrey Plaza's Harper, delivering her trademark guillotine stares for just about every second she's on screen. Runner-up: F. Murray Abraham's lecherous grandfather Bert.
• READ THE FULL STORY HERE

2. Who Needs More Stuff? These Affordable Experiences Make For Great Gifts

You don't need to break the bank to pull off a memorable holiday present, Ontario. Giving the gift of an awesome experience comes with plenty of benefits for the shopper — like no battling crowds at the mall and far less wrapping paper. Madeline Forsyth did some digging and found eight experience-based gifts that cost between $25-100 — like spending the day meeting a herd of camelids at Haute Goat's "Alpaca Knuffle Shuffle" ($69) or taking a boat cruise over the "shipwreck capital of Canada" ($25+).

3. POV: After Moving To The West Coast, Here's Where The Wallet Felt The Squeeze

After growing up in New Brunswick, Narcity's West Canada Editor Morgan Leet traded in her Maritime life for a taste of the West Coast, ignoring cheerful warnings that "B.C." actually stood for "Bring Cash." Yes, life's been more expensive since making the move; for one, Morgan's rent more than doubled from $450 a month to $1,200 — even though she now shares an even smaller unit with the same number of roommates, and the buck certainly doesn't stop there. Higher car-related expenses, pricier (albeit great) restaurants and the general cost of activities have all walloped Morgan squarely in the bank account.

What Else You Need To Know Today

🍗 FOOD BLUES
If you think food has gotten outrageously expensive where you live, keep the denizens of Nunavut in your thoughts and prayers. A TikToker recently did a breakdown of how much food costs in the tiny community of Arctic Bay, a hamlet on the north end of Baffin Island — like 2 kilograms of frozen chicken strips for over $60 and a small can of chicken noodle soup for nearly $10. Mira Nabulsi has the story here.

🎮 GAME THEORY
Quebeckers have filed a class action lawsuit against the makers of the popular online video game Fortnite, alleging the online shoot-'em-up game failed to inform players of the highly addictive nature of its product. According to MTL Blog's Thomas MacDonald, there's a second group within the class: minors who made purchases using Fortnite's in-game currency. Here's who the suit encompasses.

🚜 SMALL TOWN BOY
There are plenty of picturesque small towns to be discovered all over Alberta — but don't take our word for it. As Charlie Hart writes, a Reddit post recently invited Albertans to share their favourite small towns in the province and there were more than a few repeat nominations — like the suitably named Picture Butte, home to a cute tractor museum.

📌 JOB BOARD
The Government of Canada is looking to fill a number of jobs from coast to coast — and many of them pay over six figures. Lisa Belmonte did the scouring so that you don't have to; from IT professionals for Canada Border Services to technical advisors for CSIS, here are seven gigs worth checking out.

🎂 BIRTHDAYS
At the stroke of midnight, Taylor Swift turned 33 years old. Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee is 41. Nasally Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge is 47. Jamie Foxx turns 55. Boardwalk Empire gangster Steve Buscemi is 65. Canadian-born Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins hits the big 8-0. Canada's Christopher Plummer would have turned 93 years old today. Speaking of men who starred opposite Julie Andrews, the seemingly immortal Dick Van Dyke is 97. Modernist painter Emily Carr was born on this day in 1871.

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Thanks for reading Narcity's Canada Morning Brief — the newsletter exclusively written from a beachside resort in Sicily.

Have a question or comment about today's edition? Let me know at andrew.potter@narcity.com or hit me up on Twitter if you'd prefer at @andrewjoepotter.

Have a great day and I will see you back here tomorrow!